Defense substitutions and Delay of Game

[RyeCat]

This has happened in at least three of our games that I can remember recently. The ref is holding the ball waiting for the defense subs to purposely lollygag their way back to the sidelines while the play clock winds down. We can’t snap the ball because the ref is holding it and but we’ve been forced to call a timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty. What is going on and why is it happening so frequently? This is on the same par as the defense calling out our snap counts as a way create false start penalties.

[tetoncat]

Not sure the rule but seems like the D should only get a certain time to sub after the last O player comes in. Seems like they just hold it 20 seconds as people jog back and forth.

[technoCat]

Not sure the rule but seems like the D should only get a certain time to sub after the last O player comes in. Seems like they just hold it 20 seconds as people jog back and forth.

Yeah its supposed to be to allow a reasonable amount of time to sub. I've seen teams wait 3-5 seconds after the umpire stops playing then have guys run off the side and tap someone to jog back off. They'd better address it this offseason.

[onceacat]

It’s late substitution on the offense. Not at all on the D

[tetoncat]

It’s late substitution on the offense. Not at all on the D

Sometimes. But there have been games this year where WR and RB change out right away and 25 left on play clock and they have held it to 5 seconds before allowing snap. That is too much time.

[onceacat]

It’s late substitution on the offense. Not at all on the D

Sometimes. But there have been games this year where WR and RB change out right away and 25 left on play clock and they have held it to 5 seconds before allowing snap. That is too much time.

If the offensive substitution is right away, they shouldn’t be holding the ball. They should only be given time if the offense is late.

[ZebraCat]

Any substitution requires the officials to hold up the offense and give the defense a chance to match. It doesn’t matter if the offensive substitute comes on as soon as the previous play was over, or when the play clock is down to 25 seconds. They give a "reasonable" amount of time for the defense to recognize a substitution has been made and the ball is being held up to begin their substitution. As long as the substitute and the player they are replacing are not clearly moving at a pace which could be construed as a purposeful delay, play is held up until the defense has all players being subsititued for off the field. I do think there needs to be a time limit put on substitutions.

In the case last night where we had to call TO, Jones took awhile to get up and get off the field. He was at the sideline at about 20 seconds. Play was held up, and SFA took a couple extra seconds before starting their substitution.

[technoCat]

Any substitution requires the officials to hold up the offense and give the defense a chance to match. It doesn’t matter if the offensive substitute comes on as soon as the previous play was over, or when the play clock is down to 25 seconds. They give a "reasonable" amount of time for the defense to recognize a substitution has been made and the ball is being held up to begin their substitution. As long as the substitute and the player they are replacing are not clearly moving at a pace which could be construed as a purposeful delay, play is held up until the defense has all players being subsititued for off the field. I do think there needs to be a time limit put on substitutions.

In the case last night where we had to call TO, Jones took awhile to get up and get off the field. He was at the sideline at about 20 seconds. Play was held up, and SFA took a couple extra seconds before starting their substitution.

Why wasn't play stopped for an injury? He clearly got up very slowly. They stopped play multiple times earlier in the game to effectively give SFA timeouts on defense. Luckily Lamson finally recognized it and would let the clock run down once they restarted it but it really impacted our tempo a couple times.