# Average NFL game 16 minutes of play? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 8, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104 "2010-02-08T02:41:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/21 "2010-02-08T17:30:51Z")
The thing that gets me about football is how out of place the use of a game clock seems. In every other timed sport I can think of the ball/puck is live every second that the clock is running, whereas in football the ball is dead at the completion of every play but the clock only stops based on arbitrary rules. It would make more sense to me if the clock never stopped, was reduced to reflect actual play time, or they switched over to a system of possessions. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/22 "2010-02-08T18:12:37Z")
That’s not true, though. The ball isn’t always live in soccer despite the clock never stopping. That’s the whole idea behind the concept of “extra time”, which to me seems even crazier. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/23 "2010-02-08T19:58:24Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Years ago I remember reading an article touting a new [MLB.com](http://MLB.com) feature: condensed games… > > I used to love when MSG ran Rangers rewind, showing the “best” hour of every Rangers game, broadcast at 11pm every game night… > > The NFL network does shorty versions of all football games, which rocks… I have three words for you, son: D.V.R. (That’s digital video recorder, which is generic for TiVo). Not only can you whip through all the commercials, time-outs, warm-up pitches, twenty-second long pre-free-throw routines, and five minutes to kneel down twice, BUT you also get to rewind every important play, rather than hoping for a replay from the network. Did I mention how great it is to set late games to record, then whipping through them the next morning over breakfast (getting up half an hour earlier is much better than staying up two hours later). Man, I can’t stand watching sports in real-time anymore. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/24 "2010-02-08T20:10:24Z")
My preferred method of watching almost any TV show (including sporting events) is “near-live”. I TIVO the game, start watching 15 - 30 minutes after the show starts. I fast forward through all the commercials and other crap. It takes about ~30 minutes to catchup to the live action, then I go walk the dog, do the dishes, rake the leaves, or some other task that takes ~30 minutes and start watching again. Rinse, Lather, repeat. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/25 "2010-02-08T20:29:12Z")
> [@ministryman](#): > > 1. Commercials. > 2. The 25 second play clock. This adds at least 1 miute to every possession. > 3. Penalties and their review. > 4. Timeouts. > 5. TV Timeouts. 1. Plays which stop the clock (incomplete passes, out of bounds, scores, change of possession, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/26 "2010-02-08T22:01:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Then I looked at it as a chess game, And how much actual ‘action’ is there in a typical chess game? Fifty or sixty moves, at about 3 seconds each? So the actual action of a whole chess game could be shown in about 2-1/2 to 3 minutes. Aren’t most games like this – many minutes of planning, preparation, and just plain waiting, and then a few minutes of actual action? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/27 "2010-02-08T22:08:33Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > I have three words for you, son: D.V.R. I’ve done this with NFL games and have it down to a science. My DVR has a 30 second jump button and if you hit it at the moment a play ends it you end up with the teams in formation on the line about to hike the ball again. I can watch complete NFL games in under 25 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/28 "2010-02-08T22:28:07Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I knew somebody in high school who did this with a baseball game once … The count for actual _action_ action – the ball hit fair and in play – was like 2 minutes. > [@EllisDee](#): > > Years ago I remember reading an article touting a new [MLB.com](http://MLB.com) feature: condensed games. They only show the last pitch of every at-bat. I seem to remember them claiming it only took 12 minutes to watch an entire game, but of course you had to pay a fee. Had that service been free I would have put in a legitimate effort to become an MLB fan by watching all 162 Mets condensed games that year. I subscribe to [MLB.com](http://MLB.com). The condensed games are wonderful, but I wish they were a tad longer. A whole game takes about 10-12 minutes, 15 with extra innings. I wish they’d show you the entirety of tense at-bats, but hey, they can’t please everyone. The fee’s only like $30 and you get every radio broadcast and every game in HD from either team’s perspective. I watched every Braves, Pirates, and Dodgers game last year. Mmmm. Baseball. > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > And how much actual ‘action’ is there in a typical chess game? > > Fifty or sixty moves, at about 3 seconds each? So the actual action of a whole chess game could be shown in about 2-1/2 to 3 minutes. If you’re watching it, yes. If you’re playing it, then you play about 50 different games in your head, so the ‘action’ is much higher. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/29 "2010-02-08T22:30:35Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 1. Plays which stop the clock (incomplete passes, out of bounds, scores, change of possession, etc.) 1. half time ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/30 "2010-02-09T02:02:13Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Aren’t most games like this – many minutes of planning, preparation, and just plain waiting, and then a few minutes of actual action? Strategic games, yes. Tactical games have nonstop action but much less planning and strategy. (By definition.) I never found the “constant action” argument very compelling. As an example most of us can relate to, I think pool is a much better game with much higher replay value than foozball, though the latter is still tremendously fun in small doses. I also prefer watching pool to foozball despite there being much less action. By watching, of course, I mean hanging out drinking beers at a bar watching my buddies play while I wait to take on the winner. Imagine a game of pool where you have to strike the cue ball before it comes to a stop from the previous shot, and if it does come to a stop before you hit it it’s a scratch. The net effect being that the cue ball never stops moving for the entire game. This would be a terrible dumbing down of the game. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/31 "2010-02-09T02:09:35Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > I have three words for you, son: D.V.R. I’m guessing you intended this to come across with a good-natured folksy charm, but I read it as condescending. I’ll assume the former. I have a DVR. Fast-forwarding between plays is great; I got through the Superbowl in about an hour of gametime, though I watched all the commercials. Normally I DVR all four Sunday afternoon games and shorty through them all, each game taking 30-45 minutes to get through. It’s awesome. (I get four Sunday games because I get the NYC feed and the Hartford feed, which are different markets. Meaning I either get 2 early and 2 late games, or 3 early and 1 late: Giants, Jets, Patriots, and “other.”) But it would be extremely tedious to do if I wasn’t into football. As an example, I shortied the last three games of this past World Series – my first baseball viewing since 2000 – and found the effort annoying. But more to the point, you posted this in response to hockey shorties. You can’t shorty a hockey game without already knowing what’s about to happen, so that’s a complete nonstarter. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/32 "2010-02-09T02:12:37Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I watched every Braves, Pirates, and Dodgers game last year. Mmmm. Baseball. Yeah, see, exactly. That’s way cool. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/33 "2010-02-09T02:34:11Z")
[Yesterday’s Super Bowl - Game action only.](http://tv.gawker.com/5467035/condensing-the-super-bowl-xliv-to-just-game-action) 14 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/34 "2010-02-09T05:18:37Z")
Average actual game time is well, 60 minutes. :rolleyes: Not counting overtime. This was meant to be a sarcastic thread right? ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/35 "2010-02-09T05:33:20Z")
> [@jimpatro](#): > > Average actual game time is well, 60 minutes. :rolleyes: > > Not counting overtime. This was meant to be a sarcastic thread right? No, it was meant to be a thread about how much play there is during the game. I assume one would understand this had they read the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/36 "2010-02-09T06:12:06Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Imagine a game of pool where you have to strike the cue ball before it comes to a stop from the previous shot, and if it does come to a stop before you hit it it’s a scratch. The net effect being that the cue ball never stops moving for the entire game. This would be a terrible dumbing down of the game. This. I really like basketball but it’s much less cerebral than football. When you stop and reset after every play it gives more time for complex strategy. In basketball you can come down the floor and run the pick and roll time and time again. Try such a simple strategy in football and you will get your ass handed to you. Plus the downtime is perfect for instant replays. Basketball is better on DVR because I can replay stuff to see what I missed. The big slowness of NFL is the TV timeouts. Do away with them, by all means! ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/37 "2010-02-09T06:32:21Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > It _does_ seem amazing such American sports are so popular; baseball is even “worse.” Compare with games of the Rest Of The World, like soccer. My English cousin was teasing me about the high scores in American football and basketball. I asked him what his last village cricket team score was: 126-8 to 125-6 so that shut him up for a while. Cricket makes baseball seem like F1 racing. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_from\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Man\_from\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_from_Mars)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/38 "2010-02-09T07:25:30Z")
Although there are only ten or fifteen minutes of action in a football game, the rest of the time is also part of the game, such as preparing for the next play. I don’t mind reviews, time outs, those are not the problem. The problem is the fact that football has turned into something to fit around all those stupid, useless, meaningless commercials, and not the other way around. There is no reason, none whatsoever, why there should be four thirty second commercials between changes of possession. Oh yeah, “the players need to be paid.” Whatever. Never mind the actual game time. How long would a football game really take if there was no such thing as television? Maybe 90 minutes, two hours tops. There’s at least 90 minutes of commercials? My routine is to DVR the game, watch it in delay and then zip through those dumb interruptions. I wouldn’t mind a two or three minute break between quarters, but each and every “tv timeout?” That’s absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Piker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@Piker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Piker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/39 "2010-02-09T13:10:32Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I think the Simpsons did an excellent job of demonstrating how most Americans feel about soccer. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noOHdTQd6H8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noOHdTQd6H8) > > Not the best quality video in the world but I’m sure you’ll get it. [Obligatory “Fighting Ignorance Since 1973” Correction] The Simpsons did an excellent job of demonstrating how \* some Americans \* feel about soccer. Anecdotally, I grew up in Northern California during the 90s and that certainly wasn’t the case. [/Obligatory “Fighting Ignorance Since 1973” Correction and Certainly Does Not Want Thread to Become Cliched Flamewar between Soccer-lovers and haters] ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104/40 "2010-02-09T14:57:29Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’m guessing you intended this to come across with a good-natured folksy charm, but I read it as condescending. I’ll assume the former. > > But more to the point, you posted this in response to hockey shorties. You can’t shorty a hockey game without already knowing what’s about to happen, so that’s a complete nonstarter. Didn’t mean to sound condescending, I was just excited to share. I’ll go with bubbly valley girl instead of folksy + _The Graduate_ reference next time. But yeah, hockey is harder to speed up. Soccer works pretty well in press-FF-once speed on my DVR, with slowing back to real time for exciting moments. Hockey works less well since the exciting moments appear much quicker. (But in my defense, you did mention shorty baseball and football in your post). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-nfl-game-16-minutes-of-play/528104.md?page=3)