Play Clock Solution / Delay of Game

[Big Turk]

So I just read there was a play clock issue the whole game where it was off for 4 seconds?

 

I thought it was the game clock that was off 4 seconds.

[DallasBillsFan1]

6 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Okay enough is ENOUGH.  How many times yesterday was the clock at 0 and then the ball was snapped or a crazy timeout was called.
 

These half second - second + judgment calls by the field officials need to be REMOVED FROM THE GAME.

Solution:  Play Clock hits 0 = automatic Buzzer in the stadium.  The NBA does this for their shot clock.

It should also create more urgency for offenses to make sure they get the snap off. 

This won't happen in the new stadium.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

5 hours ago, GolfandBills said:

00.00.99.  Clock will say zero but still .99 tenths of second before it all zeros out.  Weird but that’s the explanation i heard on a podcast a while back from an ex ref

No that’s not true. The clock still should show 1 second at .99 seconds

[Wacka]

The electric shock should be to the ref's balls.

[BLeonard]

6 hours ago, GolfandBills said:

00.00.99.  Clock will say zero but still .99 tenths of second before it all zeros out.  Weird but that’s the explanation i heard on a podcast a while back from an ex ref

Yet, the game is over the instant the clock hits 0:00 in the 4th quarter.

 

Otherwise, the Bills may have had a shot at a spike to stop the clock in week 3.

 

Maybe that's why Dorsey was pissed.  He expected the Bills to get that extra 99/100ths of a second.

[Since1981]

AirPods, chips NFL footballs, Ring, Roomba vacuum.  

NAAAaaaah, there’s no tech available to match the play clock :00 to a buzzer or horn or electric shock treatment

[ganesh]

8 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Another idea would be having an extra official whose only job is literally to watch the play clock.   But the buzzer seems it would be consistent 

Then how would he know if the ball was snapped before the expiry?

[4merper4mer]

8 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Okay enough is ENOUGH.  How many times yesterday was the clock at 0 and then the ball was snapped or a crazy timeout was called.
 

These half second - second + judgment calls by the field officials need to be REMOVED FROM THE GAME.

Solution:  Play Clock hits 0 = automatic Buzzer in the stadium.  The NBA does this for their shot clock.

It should also create more urgency for offenses to make sure they get the snap off. 

They build a speaker into the QBs helmet to expedite play calling.  Why not offset that with a taser built into the shoulder pads that zaps and immobilizes the QB when the play clock hits zero?

[Sierra Foothills]

2 hours ago, Big Turk said:

So I just read there was a play clock issue the whole game where it was off for 4 seconds?

 

I thought it was the game clock that was off 4 seconds.

 

I read there was a malfunction of the space-time continuum. Something about gravitational lensing... squirrel!

 

[Goin Breakdown]

They tell us that the time in tv and the time in stadium is different. With the technology out there it seems like something so small can be corrected

[Luka]

Buzzer on wrist, hand on flag. Watch the ball, buzzer goes off, ball not snapped, flag comes out.

 

Guys, I think we're on to something!

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

8 hours ago, GolfandBills said:

Soon as it hits zero there’s still time before it’s actually 0

 

Wasn't that why in basketball years back they went to a clock that shows tenths of a second, that when the clock shows 1 it really means it's between 1.00 and 1.99 and when it shows zero it's really between 0.00 and .999?

 

This won't be a popular take, but officials are kind of trained to "let them play" and don't blow the whistle for trivial things and make it out that they are the center of the game.

 

I'm a volleyball official, when you blow the whistle for a player to serve, they have 8 seconds to serve it.  If after 8 seconds they haven't served, you blow the whistle again and that team loses the serve.  But as an official when I get to 8 if I see the player has started to toss the ball or even just looks like they are ready to toss the ball, I'm not going to blow the whistle for that. I'll give that to them even if that means they really had 9 or 10 seconds. The goal would be to let them play. 

 

Granted there's no viable clock, so no one has any idea where I am in my count.  I suppose could make it like soccer that the official on the field has the clock in his pocket, so no one else on the field has any idea how much time is actually left.  I find it interesting that a soccer game never ends when a team is running down the field on a semi breakaway or in the middle of shooting.

 

One rule change I would like to see is like in basketball a team has 5 seconds to inbound the ball, but once they reach 4, a team can't call time out.  Make it that once the play clock hit's 3 seconds, teams can't call time out.

 

Who knows maybe that's why they get extra time, the umpire is supposed to once the clock hit's zero look to see if the ball is snapped.  As common as it's become, maybe before looking at the ball, they are first looking to the sideline to see if the coach is trying to call a TO!   LOL

[Matt_In_NH]

Agree with the sentiment.  The timeouts arw tough because the coaches are calling them eight as the clock hits zero.  The part that always gets me is the magical quarter to half second when it hits zero that is given.  It happens for all teams the ref gets the time from seeing zero to turning his head to see if the ball is snapped.  This is not 1970 anymore we have technology for this.  

[BarleyNY]

For as often as the play clock is near or at 0 in games there has to be something else happening. Possibly the substitution rule’s impact on the game. It often takes a little time for the offense to substitute, then the defensive subs take time and by then the clock is way down. I’d hate to see the NFL pause the play and game clocks for the defensive subs if the offense hasn’t made their subs in reasonable time, but I can’t think of another good solution except maybe not calling 12 men on the field for players near the sideline who are clearly leaving and not impacting the play. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by BarleyNY

[BobbyC81]

21 hours ago, stevestojan said:

The fact that it’s 2023 and we’re still using the “ref stares at clock then down to the ball” is insane.

 

I mean I’ve been asking for a chip in the ball (which there already is one for punts) to prove line to gain, and I understand you still need to see where his knee was, but if you remove the variable of where the ball is you only need to focus on his knee. For example, replay of a QB sneak, the screen indicates exactly when the ball passed the line to gain, so the video pauses so the ref can search for a kneecap touching ground. But I digress…

 

The problem you outline is levels of magnitude easier to solve for, yet here we are, with 70 year old men staring at a clock then shifting their view to the ball. Awful. 

I know I’m taking a risk of backlash here but…

 

it’s still not as bad as that other futbol game which still operates like when time was kept with a sundial and it couldn’t be stopped.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

I like the exploding football concept filled with ink. 

[Low Positive]

This helped us. If the Fins had their timeouts, the end of the game would have gone differently. 

[MikeSpeed]

Put a shield on the QB's helmut. When the clock reaches 0 the shield comes down and blocks the QB's view. There's no penalty but the QB would get killed. I believe that would solve the problem. 🤣

[pocoboy]

Delay of game = No commercial break.

Timeout = Chance for commercial break.

 

Ergo, the reason a regulation game took 4+ hours. Time outs in the final two minutes are typically 30 seconds. Broadcasters seem to have that down, short commercials or no break - could even be mandated by the league to try and preserve some game flow.

 

But the early half timeouts were pushed immediately to full commercial breaks. Then add to that the change-of-possessions, challenges, injury time outs - it just got way out of hand, and I think the league only realized it after they hit 3 pm and it was just getting to halftime. 

[ngbills]

On 1/16/2023 at 8:57 AM, Warriorspikes51 said:

Okay enough is ENOUGH.  How many times yesterday was the clock at 0 and then the ball was snapped or a crazy timeout was called.
 

These half second - second + judgment calls by the field officials need to be REMOVED FROM THE GAME.

Solution:  Play Clock hits 0 = automatic Buzzer in the stadium.  The NBA does this for their shot clock.

It should also create more urgency for offenses to make sure they get the snap off. 

Agree 100000%

When the game clock hits zero is there still .99 left somewhere? Never seen them apply the rule that way. 

[SteveFreeman22]

They should just let the play play out. Let defense decide if they want the result of the play or take the penalty.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Per McAfee yesterday (Ian Rappaport segment), the NFL had a chip in the Cinci/Ravens game ball to determine how close it came to breaking the plane of the goal line right before the fumble, so why can't those same chips tell us when it was snapped relative to the play clock?    

[clayboy54]

When the play clock hits zero the obnoxious train horn automatically goes off and the play ends. Just like the buzzer in basketball or hockey. That is simple. So simple that the NFL would never do it.

[Dan Darragh]

OK, maybe I'm obsessed.

 

I went back and rewatched the game so the rest of you wouldn't have to.  I counted SIX plays when the play clock said "0" before Miami snapped the ball.  Several of those times the snap came after the 0 was on the clock for a full second.

 

If I was really, really super-obsessed I'd have taken screen shots of each one of them but you'll have to trust me on this (or rewatch it for yourself).

 

I thought I was imagining things during the game but apparently this was a thing, and it didn't include the times that Miami had to call timeout to avoid a delay (twice I think) and the one time that they actually were flagged for delay (on the 4th and 1 play).

 

The NFL needs to get this right.  I have a vague recollection from a couple of seasons ago of Lamar Jackson taking a snap well after the play clock ran down and won a playoff game because of it.

[LeGOATski]

On Miami's 2nd TO in the 2nd half, no one even called a TO. Do they give them an option to burn a TO after the fact?

 

Something Gene Steratore said in the booth made it seem like they do.

[Golden*Wheels]

Yeah the thought that they can't call the delay until it had been 00 (apparently literally the time for the guy to TURN HIS HEAD from the clock to the play) for a full second still makes it hard for me to believe there is a ref so fast and reactive he DOES KNOW that a coaches time out WAS in time. Doesn't that guy still have to....check the play? AND check the clock too?

 

The NFL just doesn't want to call it. I'll never forget our Colts playoff game fro a couple years ago. Rivers went to double 0 so many times, was driving me nuts.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Golden*Wheels

[stevewin]

The whole "it takes a second to go from the clock to ball" explanation they try to give is ridiculous.  It is essentially instantaneous for your eyes to make that movement.  It is the stupidest thing in the league 

 

When the shot clock goes off in basketball they don't say "Oh we give an extra second"

Edited January 18, 2023 by stevewin

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

Yeah it's utter nonsense.  It's not like holding where if you called every single ticky tack hold the game would just be unwatchable.  Start calling delay of game consistently and teams will start getting the snaps off in time.

[US Egg]

My wife is always running late so I’m use to waiting.

[JerseyBills]

I remember screaming delay of game multiple times.  That's the Mafia factor!!!. Nobody wants to come to OP in the playoffs, especially with a rookie QB

[BRH]

The excuse the league uses - that the ref looks at the play clock when it hits zero and then looks at the ball - is complete bull####.  The clock is situated so the quarterback can see it.  It’s not hard to situate an official where he can see both the clock and the snap. Especially if the clock uses a red border like in basketball.

 

Also, when the clock hits zero, it doesn’t mean there’s one more invisible second.   If that were the case, they would wait one second to blow the whistle at the 2 minute warning or the end of the half. 

 

It’s also a nonreviewable call.  Entirely subject to the officials’ judgment.  And the league to my knowledge has never demonstrated any interest in getting this right. 

[Sierra Foothills]

There's already a thread on this:

 

 

 

[Mr. WEO]

15 minutes ago, Dan Darragh said:

OK, maybe I'm obsessed.

 

 

 

 

Roger that.

Just now, Sierra Foothills said:

There's already a thread on this:

 

 

 

 

so that usually is the greenlight for a third!

[BeastMaster]

Should be like the NBA where a buzzer goes off and lights come on

[SRQ_BillsFan]

5 minutes ago, BeastMaster said:

Should be like the NBA where a buzzer goes off and lights come on

I was about to say the same exact thing. Make 00 audible so the Ref doesn’t even have to look. This is the NFL. In the old days they didn’t get this extra time and the Refs handled it just fine. 

[US Egg]

1 hour ago, BeastMaster said:

Should be like the NBA where a buzzer goes off and lights come on

I tell ya, temporary eye destabilizing laser flashes a split second after the clock hits 0 puts an end to this late snap tomfoolery.

Edited January 18, 2023 by I am the egg man

[Epstein's Mother]

47 minutes ago, Dan Darragh said:

If I was really, really super-obsessed I'd have taken screen shots of each one of them but you'll have to trust me on this (or rewatch it for yourself).

 

I'll just wait.  Eventually you'll post the screenshots. 😁

[Billsfan1972]

And what were the results of the plays?  I know the 4th & 1 was 2 seconds past before the flag was thrown and the Bills blew up the play.  

 

Maybe the Defense should just go on 0 and then the play is reviewed from the booth and the penalty assessed?

[GunnerBill]

The refs all year have given a lot of leeway on play clocks but Sunday was something else!!

[RunTheBall]

It’s just another tool the refs use to subtlety manipulate games. I don’t think there’s a pre-determined agenda but if there is an opportunity to keep games close the refs will take it. Doesn’t matter the team, and if one team is absolutely boat racing another there’s nothing they can do. But just watch games that you have no rooting interest in and you can see it happen. One team starts to pull away, all of a sudden they are getting holding penalties or their defense is getting PI’s. It’s the judgement calls they use to keep so the viewers keep watching and the ratings stay high.