I don't think that's true (or if so, it's a bit of a silly reason) -- statisticians know where the drive started because they saw the first line of scrimmage marker. if they're worth their salt, they're writing everything down as it happens and don't need to figure that out several first downs later.
maybe the job's unionized? commentators' jobs wouldn't suffer a bit if that position were to go away -- they get all that stat info placed in front of them all game.
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