What Were They Thinking: Ryan Tannehill, Lovie Smith, John Fox

What Were They Thinking is a weekly post where you get to relive the foolish decisions from the week that was in the NFL. Enjoy the insanity. 

Falling Asleep At The Switch

Titans offense can't be bothered

It might sound weird when you read that the Dallas Cowboys actually made a rare heads-up football play, but that's exactly what happened. 

Early in the fourth quarter, the Tennessee Titans were driving while trailing 23-10 when Jake Locker was intercepted on a tremendous play by linebacker Rolando McClain. It was close to an incomplete pass, but a review showed McClain corralled the ball before it hit the turf, and he alertly got up and ran 68 yards to the end zone without a Titan in sight. 

Now perhaps the Titans thought it was incomplete, but they seemed to have little interest in chasing McClain down. The pick was granted and only an inadvertent whistle prevented the Titans from surrendering an embarrassing touchdown. 

The officials and Mike McCoy let the Chargers down

The Seattle Seahawks are good enough that they don't need people handing them free touchdowns. 

Late in the first quarter, Percy Harvin ran for what looked to be a 51-yard score versus the San Diego Chargers, but, as you can see, it clearly shouldn't have stood.

Harvin stepped out around the 22-yard line, but somehow everybody, including the official staring right at it, missed it. 

Now it's important to remember something everyone on social media screaming for Chargers head coach Mike McCoy to challenge the play didn't: you can't challenge a scoring play. All scores are automatically reviewed, but the officials inexplicably missed this.

Still, McCoy and the Chargers' coaching staff are not blameless here. They need to be on top of these things. Replays clearly showed Harvin stepped out. McCoy must alert the official, call timeout, run on the field or do whatever it takes to make sure the refs take another look. Even though throwing the challenge flag would have resulted in a 15-yard penalty, it would have been better than the alternative. 

Terrible Use Of Timeouts

We're not letting John Fox off the hook

The Denver Broncos held on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, but that doesn't mean John Fox gets a free pass for his brutal clock management at the end of the game. 

Kansas City was down by seven with just under two minutes to play and driving inside Denver's 10-yard line. They had just one timeout remaining while the Broncos possessed all of theirs. With 1:45 to play, the Chiefs' lack of timeouts was of little concern, since they were already goal-to-go and had plenty of time to run four plays. However, Denver should have been preserving time if Kansas City tied the game, so Peyton Manning and the offense could have a chance at a winning score in regulation. 

The Chiefs ended up milking the clock all the way down to 18 seconds with a fourth-and-goal from the 2. The Broncos chose not to use any of their timeouts and, had Kansas City converted, would have been heading to overtime with the potential of never seeing the ball again and losing the game. 

Had they used all of their timeouts, even if the Chiefs tied it, Denver probably guarantees themselves at least a minute for arguably the greatest quarterback ever to get them into field goal range. Lucky for Fox his defense bailed him out. 

Gus Bradley makes Fox look like a genius

It appears as though Gus Bradley is going to be a permanent fixture on this list. 

The Jacksonville Jaguars trailed the Washington Redskins 21-7 late in the first half when Bradley almost made things worse. Washington was driving until Kirk Cousins took a sack on third down, appearing to end the half. At the Jags' 38-yard line, the Redskins were out of timeouts and the clock was about to expire, until Bradley swooped in to save the day. 

We feel your pain, Brad. 

The timeout gave the Redskins an opportunity to kick a 55-yard field goal or take one last shot to the end zone. They chose the Hail Mary but, fortunately for Jacksonville, it fell incomplete.

Did Bradley have the Redskins in his survivor pool this week?

What Do You Have To Lose?

Packers can't see the obvious

Green Bay was up 24-21 on the New York Jets in the middle of the third quarter when a golden opportunity for an onside kick presented itself. The Packers were kicking off from midfield thanks to an unsportsmanlike penalty after a touchdown, but, instead of taking advantage of his position, Mike McCarthy decided to play it safe. 

Mason Crosby tried to pin the Jets deep, but New York ran the ball out to the 24-yard line. When you're already at the 50, why not try and recover an onside kick in that scenario? If Crosby makes sure it goes beyond 10 yards, even if the Jets recover, they are still only going to take over somewhere between their own 35 and 40. 

By kicking deep in this situation, McCarthy probably saves himself about 12 yards or so, but the reward would have been so much greater than that. They would have found themselves in a good spot to put the game away with a two-score lead if they had recovered. 

Not to mention, it's the New York frigging Jets' offense. It's not exactly the Greatest Show on Turf, so losing 10 or 15 yards of field position wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 

Lovie Smith doesn't get paid by the hour

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost in heartbreaking fashion to the St. Louis Rams yesterday, but it shouldn't have come to that. I'm not sure if Lovie Smith wanted to speed things up because of the weather delay, or if he had something important to do after the game, but he certainly wasn't interested in preserving time in the first half. 

It was fourth-and-5 for the Rams with 1:30 to go, and they were lining up for a field goal attempt with the clock moving. Smith, for reasons beyond comprehension, elected not to use a timeout, even though he had three remaining, and didn't force St. Louis to kick until 40 seconds ran off the clock. 

Why not burn one of your timeouts there to give yourself a chance at a final drive before halftime? If the Bucs find themselves in bad field position, you can always just run out the clock. But calling a timeout there at least gives you an option to drive down for a field goal with more than a minute-and-a-half to work with. 

The Bucs started the ensuing drive at the 20 and, wouldn't you know it, the Rams were called for a horse collar on the first play, gifting Tampa 15 yards. However, there were only 33 seconds left at this point, and Tampa ran out of time because of that wasted 40 seconds. 

Tampa ended up losing 19-17, so three points at the end of the half would have obviously meant something. I mean, if winning games is something you're into. 

There's Just No Excuse

The Dolphins sabotage themselves

Miami faced a do-or-die play trailing 26-10 against the Buffalo Bills with a little more than seven minutes to play Sunday. The Dolphins were looking at a fourth-and-1 at the Bills' 48 when offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and Ryan Tannehill combined to sink their chances. 

Of all things, Lazor called a read-option, which failed on so many levels. Tannehill elected to keep and, not shockingly, was dropped for a loss of four yards, effectively ending any hopes Miami had of storming back.  

First off, I never like these calls on fourth-and-short. You're essentially dropping the quarterback in shotgun and bringing the ball three or four yards away from where it ultimately needs to go, instead of quickly pushing forward for a sneak or dive. Not only that, but the delay of a read-option allows penetration in the backfield because defenders will be selling out at the line of scrimmage. 

Secondly, Tannehill compounded the problem by keeping the ball. He's not slow, but he's not exactly Russell Wilson or Cam Newton back there. His chances of beating a Bills defender to the edge are slim at best. 

One week after beating the New England Patriots, the Dolphins contributed to their own demise in Buffalo. One step forward, two steps back.