Tomlin’s paraphrased response today to questions about why he didn’t challenge the Deonte TD reception:
“As a black and white principal and strategy when it comes to challenging: we do not challenge scoring plays when playing on the road based on the situation and how officials call the game.
On the road, you don’t get any replay on the field and have very little time. I’m a close observer of how the game is officiated and if the refs think there’s any possibility it was a catch, even with doubts, they will call a catch in that scenario because it is automatically reviewed. We basically accept rulings on the field on scoring plays due to the extremely low percentage of success and risk of losing the timeout and challenge.”
I thought this made a ton of sense and gave me some peace on Mike not challenging. Obviously still not the right call but the overall strategy/mindset of challenging in those plays seems sound.
Thoughts?
I don’t really see the risk in losing a first half timeout
There’s always the potential to get in a situation where that timeout could void a delay of game or other penalty that may boot you out of field goal range. There’s the potential to use that timeout to save clock to get into field goal range. Essentially, without the benefit of being sure it was 6 points, there is too much risk in giving up potential potential points that could help you if you’re playing from behind or tied and you need/want those points going in at the half. This especially factors in considering bengals got the ball to start the 3rd quarter.