Should The NFL Change The Clock System?

we all know the trouble that can come with the clock when game are coming down to the wire in terms of players having to get out of bounds to stop the clock, but should the NFL change up the system?

Cons of current system

Before beginning to look at alternatives lets evaluate the problems with the clock. To start it is very old school, every other American sport has a clock that runs in tandem with the actual game clock. for example in basketball when the game clock isn’t running either is the shot clock. Or in Hockey when the game clock isn’t running either is the power play timer. But the NFL, teams could be in the huddle when the game clock is running, the play clock isn’t. Problems with this is that although a football game is 60 minutes, we don’t get 60 minutes of football as the clock runs when nothing is going on sometimes. The clock System where players have to get out of bounds in the last 5 minutes of the game to stop the clock also limits coaches playbooks to out routes or plays to get players going towards the sidelines.

Pros of current system

The very obvious pro with the play clock and game clock system is that it makes for more entertainment. Yes, it may limit coaches playbooks in later portions of the game but that is what makes the game so interesting because there are so many factors to a single drive. This makes the game more competitive for players and more entertaining for fans. So why change it?

Why change the clock

there always seems to be a clock dilemma in every game, for example where you see the officials saying “please reset the game clock to ___”. Situations with the clock always seem to get a bit sticky in the NFL because every second matters during a late 4th quarter drive yet precious seconds tick away throughout the game without any football actually being played.

Alternatives

One Simple alternative is to make the clock stop after every single time a play is over. This is make an NFL game last forever however because the average play last only 6 seconds. Another alternative is to make the clock stop every single time a player runs out of bounds. this would still make the game run quick but it would also savor some of the seconds lost with the traditional clock system. Another Alternative to prevent play clock situations is to bring the play clock down from 25 seconds to 10 and the clock will only start when teams are out of the huddle. This would put more pressure on QBs because 10 seconds isn’t a lot of time to call audible if needed, causing a lot more turnovers. However one other side of this is that it would increase the amount of delay of game penalties in a game, and it would resolve the problem where the game clock runs where football isn’t being played. I personally, don’t have a problem with the current clock system but if the NFL where going to look into changing it these are just a couple of suggestions.