I really enjoy the strategy and tactics around managing the game clock, staying in bounds vs out, etc. I think it would remove a lot of really interesting decision points from the game of we eliminated that.
Two timeouts? The offense snaps the ball on the ref’s signal the two plays where the clock is stopped and burns the whole “first down clock” on the other play.
I was all ready to call bullshit. Don’t need to slow the game down even further!
But this is a pretty reasonable solution that may actually speed up play and take some referee variance out of high pressure situations.
The author mentions the basketball shot call and how it’s synchronized to play but doesn’t mention that there ARE other clocks exactly like the football play clock - we just don’t put them on the board. The refs count off seconds for inbounding and free throws and will award penalties when they go over. That’s exactly how the play clock works. I also think more than likely many teams will take MORE time on early downs to guarantee a good play call, resulting in slower gameplay.
Stopping the game clock in and of itself is awful.
The rest isn’t better. Ignoring how badly it breaks end of game timing, a team taking 60 seconds on fourth down because they got to the line quick on the first three is an absolutely disgusting excuse for a product. The play clock works great. This is a massive downgrade that isn’t better in any scenario.
Delay of games are a good thing. Not being prepared is supposed to be punished.
