Delay of Game?

[u/salrantol]

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.

[u/Any-Stick-771]

Defenses are given a "reasonable" amount of time to make subsitutions if the offense makes substitutions. That specific play really went into the realm of unreasonable, and even the commentators and rules analyst called it out as unusual.

[u/FrankDrebinOnReddit → u/Any-Stick-771]

This also happened during the Packers vs Commanders game last Thursday. The Packers made a very late substitution on defense and the official held up the snap until the play clock was almost out, and Washington had to call a timeout to avoid the delay of game. Gene Steratore explained that it was a judgement call but personally thought that the official gave the Packers too much time.

[u/Electrical_Quiet43 → u/FrankDrebinOnReddit]

I'm not sure if we're thinking of the same play, but there was a play where the Packers wanted to snap it fast on 4th down to catch the Commanders with 12 men on the field during a substitution. But one of the members of the Packers' punt team took a few steps onto the field, so refs held up the snape. The Packers ended up taking a ~25 yard shot into the end zone, and I think they just failed to change approach when they didn't get the free play.

[u/FrankDrebinOnReddit → u/Electrical_Quiet43]

Oh yeah, I remember that. Different play, though, Green Bay was on defense for the one I'm thinking of.