They certainly aren’t doing it now. McVay ate time outs last night like they were candy. Just horrible clock management.
As for the original question, yeah, I’d rather eat the 5 yards, even in that situation.
Ideally I’d like to see Daboll get the damn play in and Allen get the team out of the huddle on time so neither the TO or penalty is necessary. This team has so many pre-snap penalties, it’s infuriating.