NFL

NFL’s average game time has dropped

One of its time-saving tools is an instruction for referees to start the 40-second game clock immediately after touchdowns, effectively limiting the length of celebrations even through restrictions on their content have been relaxed.

The average time of games has been lower in Weeks 1 and 2 compared to the same time periods in 2015 and 2016, as the chart shows.

Of Week 1’s 15 games, 10 finished in less than three hours, and no game in Week 2 has gone longer than 3:16.

After 40 seconds, officials start a 25-second game clock for the kickoff.

If the kickoff team isn’t lined up when the 25-second clock starts, officials are instructed to put the ball on the ground and be prepared to call delay of game if it expires.

The Steelers were penalized for delay of game after their celebration of Martavis Bryant’s TD against Minnesota.

A countdown of 13:30 begins when the second quarter clock hits zero and ends when the 25-second clock for the third quarter kickoff begins.

The reality is that the NFL had seen its time of game creep up nearly six minutes in the past 10 years.

(It was 3:02 in 2008.) An anecdotal Vox.com study revealed that game action occurs on roughly 8 percent of an average NFL broadcast, and the Wall Street Journal once estimated there to be action in 11 minutes of a three-plus-hour game.

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