It's become common place for teams to ice field goal kickers on late field goal attempts in the NFL. Once more today, the idea seems to have screwed up royally. By the way, this was originally a Mike Shanahan idea. The Arizona Cardinals wish they've never heard of it, after calling timeout JUST BEFORE a FAILED field goal attempt to force overtime. Naturally, the Nick Polk field goal redux sailed right through the uprights, forcing overtime.
So, here's a variation on the old icing routine. Stand there beside the referee looking for all the world like you are going to call timeout, just before the attempt is made. The offensive team aren't idiots. They see you standing there. So, I wonder what would happen if the defending team NEVER CALLED THE TIMEOUT!
Wanna bet the clockwork precision of the field goal attempt would be thrown off? I think it would. Especially if it's a last-second lose-or-tie kind of kick.
And what's great, the occasional play-acting would put some teeth back INTO the icing attempt. Would the defensive team call the timeout or not? That's the kind of disruptive thought process the whole thing was supposed to induce in the first place.
UPDATE: Arizona won in overtime anyway. Never mind.
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