People seem very fixated on where the plays happen. The new play clock will easily add plays to the game. Alot of them, as evidenced by the 57 second FG we saw last night
2 Likes
Which play in which game? I’d like to check it out. I watched the highlight packages this morning but I am currently living in Senegal with 3 kids so only these Saturday afternoon games at 3ET dont terribly infringe upon my sleep 
1 Like
FG before the half in the first game.
37 seconds to blow the play clock in
There are two facets to the new 35 second play clock.
First, yes it should add more plays during the first 27 minutes of each half. But I don’t think it will increase the number as many as people think. Most teams run the hurry up offence for good chunks of every game. Thus play clock has no bearing on the game clock. But 3rd down substitutions will need to be quicker. No more 50 second runoffs. That will help for sure
Second, the new rules will certainly decrease the number of plays in the last 3 minutes but is dependent upon how the clock starts. The clock will HOPEFULLY still stop after each play and not continually run as it does in US football. If the league decides to go the NFL route and clock runs, we potentially will lose far too many plays.
Our last 3 minute rules are completely different than the NFL. By increasing the play clock, it doesn’t mean we need to follow NFL rules for the game clock. Run the 35 second clock to get a play in (similar to the pitch clock in baseball)… but still only allow 20 seconds to click off the game clock. Meaning the game clock starts when the play clock hits 20. This will ensure that the most exciting 3 minutes in sports can be preserved but sped up
How they institute the last 3 minutes as far as game clock is concerned will go a long way in showing CFL fans the true direction the commissioner wants to take our league.
2 Likes
I appreciate the creativity but now we will have a 35 second play clock and a 20 second runoff clock and a game clock? 3 clocks?
In the timing thread, a poster displayed a chart comparing a typical NFL game to a CFL game. It was game clock runoff per play on the horizontal axis and the number of plays on the vertical axis.
Both the CFL and NFL have peaks around 40 seconds. The NFL has a smaller peak at 0 seconds since the gane clock is held to the snap after incomplete passes, scores, turnovers etc. In the CFL, the game clock is only held to the blowing in of the play clock even after stoppages on the preceding play. So on the graph there is another peak at 20 seconds.
If we eliminate the added runoff from these plays by adopting an NFL convention to our 35 second clock we will save far more time and have many more plays over the course of the first 27 minutes than we lose in the last 3 minutes.
4 Likes
What he says and the truth is in question
2 Likes
Excellent post!
After watching tonight’s game play out in Edmonton, and it would not have mattered the result for purposes of my view, as close as they can keep the last three minutes of each half in the CFL to the current situation, but with now a 35-second play clock between plays, I am all for it.
Also overlooked is that in American football for those making comparisons, it is NOT always a 40-second play clock, for a 40/25 system is used.
IN ADDITION, as is I feel being totally overlooked except for the well-known last two minutes in the NFL, the NCAA and some states for high school play have their own special GAME clock stoppage rules late in the game, which were changed to the final two minutes in the NCAA only in 2024.
The whole point is to allow more time for a few more plays late in the game, as is the status quo in the CFL, where truly NO LEAD IS SAFE.
1 Like
There was some mention of adding 1-2 timeouts which could help add a bit of drama back in to the end of a game. Or maybe they just do away with not being able to use the second timeout in the last three minutes. That always felt arbitrary to me.
1 Like
Last night’s last second victory by Edmonton would not have happened if the rules had been 35 seconds play clock. because 15 seconds extra would continue to tick off.
especially if the stop time stays as is.
Sure it would have because Edmonton’s last second victory would have been at the 02:13 mark due to the time saved earlier in the game and we would have had another 7 plays where who knows what would have happened
4 Likes
we honestly have no idea how the 35 seconds is going to affect the league. we know time will run faster but beyond that we don’t really know until we start having league games played with the changes over and over. in the last 3 minutes the team who has the lead with the ball can use up more time in 2 plays, an extra 30 seconds assuming you don’t snap the ball until the 34th second and it’s run time (no previous play stopped the clock) so intead of a 2 and out using up a whole 40 seconds you go 2 plays using up 70 seconds. that’s almost an entire play and 1/2. so 3 minutes, 20 seconds per play. 9 plays. (i know its a simple example but it’s just to explain. with the new rules you roughly have only 7 plays.)
That has been explained to him already several times. Either he doesn’t understand the new timing rules or he is misrepresenting them intentionally. Never let facts get in the way of a closely held opinion some say.
For me these rule change threads are saturated and I’m not going to be responding in them unless there is something new and I think a few people might take that route. Repeating the same misinformation and opinion 20 times a day doesn’t make it true.
4 Likes
So instead of “last night’s comeback wouldn’t have happened”
It’s “we have no idea what would have happened and it might have been even better. We don’t know"
3 Likes
I know how the timing rules work Jon… don’t talk to me like i’m a child…
since we don’t know what exactly they’re going to do yet with the last 3 minutes officially we cant truly comment.
however, if it’s as if and nothing changes. teams in the lead will have the opportunity to use up more time per play assuming they run plays that allow the time to run immediately.
I also know that teams will gain more plays during the game due to the time running consistently.
you watch they’ll keep track of every game and make a comparison for all sorts of stats regarding the new timing rules.
2 Likes
I doubt it would have been better. the team with the lead can use up 15 more seconds per play that would have removed about 60 seconds off the clock when the Elks had the ball in the last 3 mins.
1 Like
Pot? Meet…
1 Like
I have never done that.
1 Like
Depends what you define as better. How about we just stop the clock for everything other than just the plays. Every time the ball isn’t in play we’ll stop the clock. Even more excitement
timing rules today the clock only stops when the team with the ball has the end result of the play going out of bounds or an incomplete pass. if a Turnover occurs, or a score.
if they run a play and it stays in bounds the clock starts as soon as the referee whistles the play in.
so with the 35 seconds, the moment that ball is placed down on the field 35 seconds will run off the game clock if the last play ended in bounds. so the team uses up less time each play right now in the last 3 mins.
1 Like
You didn’t say anything none of us don’t already know.
2 Likes