Coughlin may have accidentally unleashed a phenomenal strategy

Let's assume it takes 3 seconds to spike the ball. 15 yards in 9 seconds really isn't that much of an advantage over Brady trying to drive the field. You're giving him free yards. Brady completes a 20 yard pass in bounds and that's 20 seconds off the clock minimum. He hits a 15 yard sideline pass and that's 4-5 seconds off the clock.

The strategy (although it was an accident) looked good because New England didn't recognize it.

12 men on the field going forward should automatically result in 5 yard penalty no time off the clock.

NFL Clarifying rules on trading penalty yards for time

Originally posted by communist:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Dude the clock stops after a penalty.

Are you for real? You would just be giving them yard all the way down the field.

I'm glad i got to see this before it gets locked.
By far the lamest thread i've ever seen on here, and that my friend, is saying ALOT.

But it whines down before the penalty is flagged.

And? You are giving them a free play each time. The game won't end on a defensive penalty.

Time will tick off the clock but you are giving them another opportunity to throw a hail mary or do whatever. If I know there are extra defenders on the field, improv and make a play.

Originally posted by jdt84_2:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Dude the clock stops after a penalty.

Are you for real? You would just be giving them yard all the way down the field.

I'm glad i got to see this before it gets locked.
By far the lamest thread i've ever seen on here, and that my friend, is saying ALOT.

You are on your 30 with 45 secs left down by 9. A team spends 7 secs and gets 5 yes on the penalty who wins? Okay they spikeit and lose 2-3 secs? Then you throw in a regular defense and they justwasted time for no yardage.

This is a strategy like letting a team score to insure getting the ball back with time.

You assume nothing happens on the play.

If you get 10 yards on a completion or a run, you lose 7 seconds and get 15 yards, plus the clock will stop. If time ran out, you still get another play.

Am i not understanding this right?

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Originally posted by jdt84_2:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:
Dude the clock stops after a penalty.

Are you for real? You would just be giving them yard all the way down the field.

I'm glad i got to see this before it gets locked.
By far the lamest thread i've ever seen on here, and that my friend, is saying ALOT.

You are on your 30 with 45 secs left down by 9. A team spends 7 secs and gets 5 yes on the penalty who wins? Okay they spikeit and lose 2-3 secs? Then you throw in a regular defense and they justwasted time for no yardage.

This is a strategy like letting a team score to insure getting the ball back with time.

You assume nothing happens on the play.

If you get 10 yards on a completion or a run, you lose 7 seconds and get 15 yards, plus the clock will stop. If time ran out, you still get another play.

Am i not understanding this right?

no you're correct

I don't see why a lot of people are hating on this threat. This is a valid concern. I was very surprised when the refs didn't put time back on the clock after the Giants had 12 men on the field with only a few second left in the game.

I am not suggesting that teams will implement this purposefully -- though they can. My worry is that a defensive (who has time on their side) can continue to run the clock AND have the advantage on a given play.

Lets consider the play in question. The Pats were on their 40 or so and running streaks down the field. Hernandez was double teamed down the sideline when Brady threw it. Not only did they not complete it (and probably wouldn't in almost any scenario given the extra defender), but they lost 10-12 seconds on a futile play. Yes, they get the 5 yards and a free play, however, those yards/free play are not worth anything at that juncture of the game.

Originally posted by SportsFan:
You guys can't be serious can you? You know the game can't end on a defensive penalty. So ya..keep doing that and the other team will continue to get another play. Seriously, and I thought there were knowledgeable fans on this board.

There are. However, they generally do not participate in silly threads like this one.

double facepalm status

Originally posted by andes14:
When there's under like 30 seconds or so and the only thing that will beat you is a hail mary, you might as well just have extra defenders on the field to guard against the hail mary and eat up clock and then just accept the 5 measly, irrelevant yards that you will be penalized. Hell, don't stop at 12 guys, the penalty is the same regardless of how many extra guys you have on the field. You seriously literally might as well have all 45 guys that dressed on the field. Same with on the goalline. If you're up 9 or more with like 30 seconds left and the other team has it on the 1 yard line. If you play them straight up, they could get a TD and then have time to maybe recover an onside kick with a few plays to get in FG range. But if you just have tons of extra guys on the field to stop a TD, you keep conceding the 5 inch half the distance to the goal penalty while not allowing a TD until the last play of regulation and then you win.

I will avoid you at all cost in Madden.

Well it is definitely not a genius strategy. It is a technical loophole, nothing more. Loopholes are extremely easy to counter because they are so specific. In this case it is found time is more valuable than yards. Easy to counter. Make the new penalty in time, not yards for this particular scenario. Award the offense 15 more seconds and no coach will ever do this again

Originally posted by danimal:
Well it is definitely not a genius strategy. It is a technical loophole, nothing more. Loopholes are extremely easy to counter because they are so specific. In this case it is found time is more valuable than yards. Easy to counter. Make the new penalty in time, not yards for this particular scenario. Award the offense 15 more seconds and no coach will ever do this again

No, the logical thing to do wouldn't be to ADD time, but simply just revert the clock back to what it was before the play. That way, you get the 5 yard penalty and no time removed, thus not being at all of a disadvantage to the offense.

I really dont get it......

Originally posted by andes14:

Originally posted by danimal:
Well it is definitely not a genius strategy. It is a technical loophole, nothing more. Loopholes are extremely easy to counter because they are so specific. In this case it is found time is more valuable than yards. Easy to counter. Make the new penalty in time, not yards for this particular scenario. Award the offense 15 more seconds and no coach will ever do this again

No, the logical thing to do wouldn't be to ADD time, but simply just revert the clock back to what it was before the play. That way, you get the 5 yard penalty and no time removed, thus not being at all of a disadvantage to the offense.

Sure that would be the logical thing to do, but I was suggesting the punitive thing to do. To counter bush league coaching I think the league would be best served being punitive. You want it to be a scenario that no coach would ever call on purpose. The 5 yard penalty and time revert would most likely leave some coaches thinking, hmm It might still be worth it if nobody notices the 12th guy.

The real problem with my suggestion is that it would add more than 60 minutes of official regulation time and that can be messy.

The counter to this is a real punitive penalty. Something like 15 yards and the time revert.

Originally posted by 80849er4life:
I really dont get it......

There is nothing to get.

This is called overthinking, like when JH took the FG instead of the 15 yard penalty in the cowboys game.

Gotta take the penalty and keep the ball moving.