Not a sports fanatic here, but I watch occasionally. Can someone explain why it is legal for a NFL team to let the clock run down? Isn’t this delay of game? Specifically, I am referring to the last two minutes of the Falcons-Cowboys game tonight. Seems like Atlanta let the clock run down thereby delaying the game, IMHO.
I did not see the game but I am willing to bet whatever they did was legal per the rules.
Clock management is part of the game and it is quite common for teams with a lead to try and run the clock out towards the end. In the Bears game today they had a huge lead in the 4th quarter which made most of the 4th quarter incredibly boring as the Bears basically ran the ball every play and used as much clock as they could just to get the game over with.
There are various rules about when the clock is left running after a play and when it is stopped. After a play is over the team has 30 seconds (45?..I forget) to snap the ball on the next play.
To run the clock out the team with the ball will run safe plays (generally running plays which are relatively low risk and keeps the clock running when the play is done) and then use up as much of the clock as they can before snapping the ball for the next play. If they do not care at all about gaining any yards the quarterback will take a knee which is as safe a play as it gets.
The opponent can do little about this beyond calling timeouts (which they will do but only have three so must use them judiciously).
Just part of the game.
There are two clocks. The game clock, and the play clock. Delay of Game happens when you let the play clock run to :00. The Falcons never did that.
There are two clocks, the game clock and the play clock. The game clock is the 15 minutes per quarter. There is no penalty for wasting game clock time. Then there is the play clock that is reset between plays. You have to get a play off before the play clock goes to 0 or you draw the delay of game penalty.
45 seconds in the NFL. The game clock continues running on a running play or pass play that ends in bounds. If a player runs out of bounds or there’s an incomplete pass the clock stops. It also automatically stops when possession transfers from one team to the other.
Actually, the NFL play clock is 40 seconds. 25 after a timeout.
I could have sworn it was 45, but thanks for the correction.
Think about it like basketball (except it’s called a “play clock” instead of “shot clock”). You have to take a shot within 24/30/35 seconds (depending on the level of basketball), but there’s no reason you can’t just sit there and dribble to run the game clock down and shoot at the last second of the shot clock.
I was actually going to start a thread on this myself after watching the Steelers-Giants game last night.
The Steelers were up 24-20 with something like a minute and 45 to go. Ben just took a knee two or three times and the game ended. It looked like coaches and most of the players were milling around on the field with time left on the clock.
Why? If I were the Giants I’d want to keep going until the bitter end. Yeah they most likely wouldn’t have gotten the ball back, and yeah, they still would need a touchdown to win. BUT, the Steelers could have fumbled (happened earlier in the game) or thrown an interception which could have been returned for a touchdown (also happened earlier in the game). As unlikely as either scenario was, there was a chance. So why not make them play until the time runs out?
For the record I am a Steeler fan, I was just curious about why teams just stop playing and take a knee to end the game in situations like this.
They can’t throw an interception if they don’t pass the ball, which they aren’t going to do not only because it might be intercepted, but if it’s incomplete the clock stops. They could possibly fumble the snap, and they do do that sometimes when it’s important to take the snap and very quickly hand it to someone else to run. But if you’re only going to take the snap and kneel on the ground, you can be pretty sure that the snap will be done very carefully.
Why do they do this? If the game’s close it’s the best way to ensure a victory. If the game’s not close, it’s considered running up the score which is viewed as an unsportsmanlike thing to do.
I’ve always thought it was kinda chickenshit, too, but the reason is they can preserve their score instead of jeopardizing it with a play. Fumbles and mistakes do happen.
Ever watch the Bucs get beat?
Exactly so. It was the Miracle at the Meadowlands game in 1978, in which the Giants lost a game to the Eagles when they fumbled a handoff while running out the clock, which caused the “victory formation” / “taking a knee” to become the standard in the NFL. You will, very rarely, see a team not do this, but it tends to be highly criticized as unnecessary risk-taking, and it’s the kind of thing that, if it backfires, will cost a coach his job.
Unless the opposing team intercepts the snap.
I know…has to be seen to be believed so here ya go: http://www.maxpreps.com/blogs/maxwire-national-blog/FmYSuiU_zEaq9zWYrSEGOA/video--snap-intercepted-for-80-yard-touchdown.htm
I should have posted “why are teams allowed to do this?” rather than “why do teams do this?”
The NFL could prevent teams from taking a knee in the last few minutes of the game if they wanted to. The Miracle at the Meadowlands game that Kenobi posted is a perfect example of how a game could change in the last few seconds.
At any time outside 2 minutes left in the first half and 5 minutes left in the second half, when a player runs out of bounds, the clock stops long enough for the ball to be spotted and then the clock starts running again.
During the last 2 minutes of the first and last 5 of the second half, it works as you say.
This is apparently a very obscure rule that no one seems to know - I myself didn’t catch onto this for a few years once I started watching football and sometimes wondered why the hell the clock would run in these situations.
There are 3 timeouts allowed per team each half. There are specific penalties and rules that happen in the last 2 minutes of the game. There is the two minute warning. These teams are allowed to do this because they played the rest of the game in a way that keeps things interesting. Clock management is a critical skill that adds to the excitement and enjoyment of the game. One consequence of this is that if you have poor clock management skills your team suffers at the end of the game. It’s all part of the chess match that is football.
I’m willing to put up with thrilling hurry-up offense at the end of the game and a fantastic game winning drive in a few cases in exchange for a few games where it ends with one team in victory formation for three straight games.
I did not know that, I’m learning a lot in this thread.
Clearly, then, the answer is “the NFL does not want to prevent ‘taking a knee’”, since it’s been an allowable play for over 30 years. (I may be mistaken, but I think that the rules were slightly tweaked after the 1978 season, to specifically allow taking a knee.)
While the NFL does want exciting games, I get the sense that they don’t necessarily want to add potential chaos at the ends of games which are not otherwise still in doubt, for the sake of one stunning turnaround every couple of years.
My suspicion is that the majority viewpoint among the NFL Competition Committee (the group of coaches which handles rules changes) is that, if a team isn’t capable of putting itself into the position to win a game in the first 59 minutes, they don’t want to do anything more to give them another chance. In addition, it doesn’t seem like there’s any significant dissatisfaction among fans about the practice. In short, it’s probably not seen as a needed or wanted change to make.
I believe that’s a fairly recent (i.e., within the past 10-15 years) rules change. My recollection is that, when I was a bit younger, it wasn’t the case (i.e., back then, when the clock stopped, it didn’t get re-started until the next snap).