Quote:
Originally Posted by jerseyguy4
It is sort of like the difference between being lined in the neutral zone (not blown dead) and unabated to the QB (blown dead). I would guess the rule change was meant to protect the offense.
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It was instituted after the superbowl last year. Late in the game the Giants had 12 men on defense and the Patriots ran a play. The play took quite awhile (8 seconds I think) and resulted in an incomplete pass. The argument was that the Giants had the luxury of an extra defender which made the play less likely to succeed, but still took a bunch of time off the clock.
So they changed it to a dead-ball foul so no time runs off unless the defender is running off because that gives the offense an advantage (a free play with 11-on-11).