Re: [NFL] Colts-NE, Defensive Delay of Game?

Binyamin Dissen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> On 1 Dec 2003 14:25:36 GMT [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jeremy Billones) wrote:
> 
> :>Near the end of the Colts/Pats game, with the Patriots out of time outs,
> :>one of their players was "injured" on the field.  The clock, and play,
> :>was stopped for the injury as the Colts went hopping mad.  After
> :>leaving the field for one play, the "injured" player returned for the
> :>key goal line stand, making the final tackle.
> 
> I am confused.
> 
> The defense was out of time outs and faked an injury to stop the clock?
> 
Yes, this is atypical, which may be why the rules might not cover the
situation.

The Colts were pushing the ball down the field without stopping the
clock, and several Patriots were clearly spent. The Colts wanted to
keep rushing off plays to take advantage of the exhausted defense. The
player may have been truly injured, but they sat him down on the field
-- while it appeared he could have walked to the sideline -- and took
their good old time attending to him, allowing their defense to catch
their breath. The rejuveniated defense then was able to mount a strong
goal line stand to save the game.

This illustrates a contention I often make contrary to what many other
fans believe. That is that timeouts generally benefit the defense.
While many feel the offense should call timeouts to make sure they've
called the right play in a crucial situation, I say the offense should
know in advance what plays they want to call in certain situations and
by calling timeout they often aid the defense in providing them extra
time to catch their breath and do their more complicated analysis of
anticipating the offense's call and how they want to react to it.



> As the Colts (offense) were behind, how were they disadvantaged?
> 
> :>I had though that, in the NFL, if a player was injured in the final 2
> :>minutes his team was charged a time out, or penalized for Delay of Game
> :>if no time outs remained.  However, this did not occur.  Was I mistaken,
> :>or is Tags gonna have to send another letter?
> 
> Why would the defense, being ahead, fake the time out?
> 
> Also, doesn't the clock start on the ready?