Cleveland Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals

A dejected Mike Pettine leaves the field Monday night after the Browns' stunning 33-27 loss to the Ravens on a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown.

(Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio - Momentum and the football belonged to the Browns in the final frantic minute of Monday night's game at FirstEnergy Stadium.

A season filled with disappointment appeared ready to offer fans a respite from six weeks of losing and negative headlines. Cornerback Tramon Williams had intercepted a Matt Schaub pass at the Ravens' 46 with 50 seconds remaining in a tie game.

All the Browns needed was about 20 yards and sound clock management to set up a field goal. The stands, almost one-third empty as the result of a two-win campaign, pulsated with anticipation of a nationally-televised victory against a hated opponent.

On first down, backup quarterback Austin Davis, replacing an injured Josh McCown, dropped three steps and threw a strike to Brian Hartline over the middle for a six-yard gain. The play required just five seconds. The Browns had two timeouts in their quiver. Everything seemed under control.

Yet as time bled from the clock without another snap a feeling of anxiety swept through the venue. Davis barked instructions to his wide receivers with 27 seconds left. Travis Benjamin stood with his arms raised, uncertain of the call. Right guard John Greco looked back over his shoulder at his new quarterback seeking clarity.

Why weren't the Browns hiking the ball or coach Mike Pettine calling timeout? In the broadcast booth, Jon Gruden said what every Browns fan was thinking: "Taking a lot of time."

Twenty-seven seconds after the previous play had ended, Davis fielded a shotgun snap to begin a sequence no fan will forget.

The Browns appeared confused as quarterback Austin Davis tried to call out the play in the final minute after a six-yard completion.

'It's a lot harder than you think'

Few mistakes in coaching draw more criticism from fans and media than mismanaging the clock at the end of a half or game. In a sport teeming with nuance and complicated strategy, bungled two-minute drills are obvious to even casual observers.

There are no trusted charts like the ones advising coaches when to go for two points after a touchdown. End-of-game drives are like snowflakes -- no two are alike -- and this year is producing a blizzard of them.

Ninety-one games have been decided by seven points or less, the most in any NFL season through 12 weeks, according to league statistics.

Nobody is immune from failure in these pressure-packed environs, but some seem more susceptible. Former Ravens coach Brian Billick recently told the New York Times and Buffalo News clock management is toughest on first-time head coaches because they never made such decisions as coordinators or assistants.

Now, think about the Browns since 1999. Just two of their seven coaches (Butch Davis, Eric Mangini) previously held head-coaching posts in the college or pro ranks before arriving in Cleveland.

That's a lot of inexperience at winning time.

"It is a challenge, and it is very difficult coming from a coordinator standpoint," said Pettine, a former defensive coordinator. "It's hard for a coordinator to manage the clock. Most of the clock management decisions come on offense. It's very difficult when you're calling plays to have that awareness so you need that voice in your ear.

"I agree with Brian that I think it's one of the things that you realize it's a lot harder than you think when you first take over."

Pettine's first four games a season ago were decided by three points or less - each coming down to the final play. This year, all but one game has included scores in the final two minutes of the first or second halves.

The Browns have been a mixed bag under Pettine in these settings. They delivered against the Saints and Titans last year and imploded near the end of the first half versus the Jaguars when they kept running Terrance West inside the 25 only to turn the ball over on downs. Jacksonville drove 76 yards on four plays in the final seconds to change the game's complexion.

"A lot of people have opinions on it and systems and ways to do it," Pettine said. "I know I haven't batted 1.000 on it, but it's something that when you make a mistake you don't want to make it again."

Clock management is a 60-minute enterprise. As Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said during a Wednesday conference call, decisions made earlier in the game can affect the final minutes. It's about milking the clock and reminding players to stay in bounds with a third-quarter lead. It's about running plays with urgency and not wasting timeouts when trailing.

Pettine spent part of his off-season reading material on how to effectively manage the clock, but scenarios are vast and Monday night presented daunting variables.

Davis is a relatively inexperienced quarterback who never took a snap with Cleveland until the fourth quarter against the Ravens. He also had trouble hearing the calls radioed in from the sidelines.

"Unfortunately, we had an issue with the headset right at the same time where Austin was thinking that we were OK from a (field-goal) range standpoint -- that we were far enough down (the field)," Pettine said. "I was tempted a couple of times (to call timeout) thinking this play hasn't been (run), but we're lined up, we were ready to snap and it just didn't get snapped."

Costly slide

Davis took the snap on second-and-4 from the 40 and looked downfield. The mobile quarterback, who started eight games last season with Rams, felt the pocket collapsing and scrambled to his right.

With the crowd cheering his every stride, Davis gained seven yards before electing to slide instead of trying to run for a few more precious yards. He also failed to get out of bounds, forcing the Browns to call their second timeout with eight seconds left.

An ESPN camera panned the sideline and captured the frustration on Pettine's face. Officials marked the ball at the 33 - putting it right at the edge of kicker Travis Coons' range. He had been perfect on his first 18 NFL tries, but his career long is 44 yards.

The coaching staff had a huge decision to make. Throw a short pass and risk a sack or call a run play?

Browns quarterback Austin Davis slid for a first down but failed to get out of bounds.

The '30,000-foot view'

Former Browns coach Sam Rutigliano said his teams ran two-minute drills in every practice. His fabled 1980 Kardiac Kids generated one frenetic finish after another - 13 games decided by seven points or less - including the infamous Red-Right-88 playoff loss to the Raiders.

"In those situations everything rises and falls on the head coach," Rutigliano said. "I think it's such an advantage for head coaches to come from an offensive background. ... It's just a lot tougher on former defensive coordinators because they are not used to thinking two or three plays ahead."

In today's NFL, practice times are often shorter, game plans more complex. The Browns, like many teams, might run two-minute drills once or twice a week.

McCown attempts to simulate them at home when he watches games on television.

"I try to put myself in the mindset of the quarterback," the 36-year-old said. "What would I do here? Sometimes, you have so many moving parts it escapes you. The older you get, you manage it better for sure.

"You get tons of reps in practice but you only get so many chances to practice clock management."

Backup quarterbacks almost never get two-minute reps. They are too busy running the scout team.

Even by NFL standards, the final two minutes of Monday's game was chaotic. Both teams possessed the ball twice in that short span, producing 14 points, including a 42-yard TD pass from Davis to Travis Benjamin with 1:47 left to tie it at 27.

All head coaches employ an assistant who sits in the coaches' box offering insight and analytical data from a less frenzied environment. In Pettine's case it's senior offensive consultant Kurt Roper.

"He's not coaching a position so I think that helps him (in supplying) the 30,000-foot view of everything," Pettine said. "That's helpful that he can kind of stay distanced from watching any one position and be more in tune with me as far as game reminders."

Stunning ending

With eight seconds left, Davis worked from under center. He handed the ball to Johnson, who was met at the line of scrimmage and dropped by an unblocked Ravens linebacker C.J. Mosley. Pettine called his final timeout with three seconds remaining.

Coons trotted onto the turf to attempt his longest field goal. Most figured the youngster would either win it or the game would head to overtime. Everyone in the stadium stood, hoping to celebrate a rare season-series sweep of the Ravens.

Coaches prepare for countless late-game possibilities, including bad snaps on field goals. One scenario not practiced is what happens if a kick gets blocked. That's exactly what happened.

Ravens defensive lineman Brent Urban deflected Coons' low drive and safety Will Hill scooped the ball and raced 64 yards for the game-winning TD on the final play. Videos shot by shocked and angry fans went viral. It capped a brutal final minute rife with Browns' mistakes committed on the field and the sideline.

Once the Ravens' Will Hill (33) got past Armonty Bryant (95) he had clear sailing to the end zone.

Balancing act



Coach the game long enough and it's bound to break your heart a few times in moments like these. Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll experienced the pain at the end of recent Super Bowls. Jim Caldwell felt the sting Thursday night as he saw Aaron Rodgers' prayer answered on the final play.

Many NFL games are decided in the final two minutes and coaches' decisions weigh heavily in the outcomes. Rutigliano is among the legions who regard Patriots' Bill Belichick as the best at managing a game's diminishing seconds. Having Tom Brady as his quarterback certainly doesn't hurt.

It was a gamble he made on defense, however, that might be his most famous. Belichick didn't call a timeout on the final stand in Super Bowl XLIX, allowing 40 seconds to run from clock as the Seahawks appeared poised to score the winning touchdown in the last minute. The Patriots stuck with their goal-line package except for substituting corner Malcolm Butler for linebacker Akeem Ayers. Naturally, Butler intercepted Russell Wilson's pass to ensure victory.

"Belichick reminds me of Chuck Noll and Don Shula," Rutigliano said. "He never gets rattled with the game on the line."

In a stunned Browns' locker room following the 33-27 Monday-night loss, left tackle Joe Thomas defended Pettine's decision to run the ball on the final play before kicking it.

"I think with a quarterback that hasn't had a lot of snaps with us, the risk goes up," Thomas said. "You have to say, 'What are our odds of making this kick against the odds of something bad happening?' That's the balancing act. There's no clear way of handling that."

It's easy to second-guess Pettine for Monday night's meltdown. If he calls timeout between the first and second snaps -- 27 seconds leaked from the clock - imagine how many more plays the Browns can run.

"That's on us as an operation to make sure that that doesn't happen again," Pettine said.

He likely will get another chance. The way his first two seasons with the Browns have unfurled it might come as early as Sunday.