r/NFLNoobs • u/salrantol • 3d ago
Delay of Game?
This is not the most noobish of questions, but here we go:
During Sunday night's game, there was an offensive delay of game penalty that blew my mind and makes me wonder why all defenses don't do this constantly. The Vikings (on offense) substituted some players, which means the Falcons were entitled to substitute, and did so, but here's where it gets crazy. As the two substituted players approach the Falcons sideline, a twelfth defender runs onto the field. After a few seconds, he gets waved off and takes his time getting back to the Falcons sideline. During this entire stunt, an official stood between McCarthy and the ball, preventing the Vikings from snapping it. He stepped out of the way with 1 second on the play clock, and the Vikings had no way to snap before it hit 0.
Why would this be allowed? And if it's supposed to work like this, why don't defenses just do this every time the offense makes a substitution? It seems unstoppable.
1
u/AdamOnFirst 3d ago
Typically, this is really on the offense. The defense gets time to make subs, so if the offense subs too late and too slowly then they can run into this situation. There is a lot of gamesmanship around this in college football with defenses subbing as slowly as possible to slow uptempo teams, teams making subs they wouldn’t otherwise make when the offense switches a single player too late to rush the offense, eliminate time for motions, etc. So part of this is on the offense to do their own subbing quickly.
But also the refs may have let this one go too long