I'm kind of torn about this. I understand what he was trying to do, but I just hated the fact that we blow our last 2 TO's in that situation.
At first I didn't like the 1st one because I thought it was way too early, then I thought about the situation with the backup qb in and the fact there was no way they were going to get a first down on that 3rd down. The backup qb was rattled at that point. Coach saw a chance to pounce (maybe starting qb was going to re-enter game in next series) and jumped on it. In a normal situation (healthy starting qb who has been killing us on 3rd downs) I'm not so sure if I would like it though because I felt like they were like 80% first down percentage on 3rd and longs the whole night and if they would have gotten a first down there it would have been a complete waste of a TO.
I don't really like the 2nd one though because I feel like we need to keep one in our back pocket for emergency situation or ultimately help us w/ clock at end of game if needed. We were going to need to stop them again to get the ball back because we were down 2 scores anyways we could have just used one the following series Wake had the ball and got the same results, but less risk IMO.
Either way they worked out and Coach Marrone does seem to be a little unconventional in his TO use (which is why I'm sure many including myself question it lol) but he usually gives us some statistical reason why and his thought process so who knows. The bottom line is if we make stops on defense and get 1st downs on offense that is the most important thing and the decisions work out just fine.