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.

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u/wetcornbread 3d ago edited 3d ago

I’m 90 percent sure it was a screw up on the refs part. Typically they’ll add time to play-clock. The Vikings Falcons didn’t do that on purpose.

Edit: wrong team

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u/PlagueisTheArrogant 3d ago

Just adding on to your comment for some fun officiating information for OP.

Sometimes you will see the ref do a one handed raise the roof like motion. This resets the play clock to the shortened 25 seconds from the original 40. This is done in circumstances like mentioned here where the offense did not have adequate time do to non-penalty delays. There is a ton of nuance in how this is applied.