
The list and severity of grievances from local sports fans seems to get amplified during A) games against rivals, B) games that are going poorly and C) questions about officiating.
The trifecta hit in multiple cases, then, during Sunday's frustrating 21-16 Vikings loss to the Packers. Pick your least favorite offensive pass interference call … or simply note that the Vikings were flagged 8 times for 100 yards (compared to 6 and 35 for Green Bay) and we'll get this fire going in no time.
But one thing in particular seemed to have the attention of a lot of folks (myself included) on Twitter Sunday: Aaron Rodgers' propensity to bring the play clock within a fraction of zero, sometimes beyond, before snapping the ball … and yet not being flagged all day for delay of game. (Screen grab via @joefujinaka).
Indeed, it appeared that multiple times the play clock had run out on Green Bay, but the only delay penalty called during the game on the Packers came near the very end of the game and was intentional before a punt. So why wasn't it called on Rodgers and the Packers? Let's investigate:
*If you are operating under the assumption that the play clock you see on TV is somehow different than the play clock in the stadium, that is incorrect. Ryan Russell, a former student of mine who now works in broadcasting, confirms what I've seen reported elsewhere: the clocks are connected directly into the broadcast, so what you see in the stadium is what you see on TV. That doesn't always work flawlessly, but that's standard operating procedure.
Translation: It's unlikely any clock discrepancy accounted for the lack of delay penalties, whereby officials were seeing time left when home viewers were not.
*A better, though not wholly satisfying, explanation comes from the Football Zebras site, which tackled this very question last year.
Basically, the back judge is the one who calls delay of game, and he or she has to monitor both the play clock and the center/QB. If the play clock hits zero: