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Originally Posted by RichMSN
I won't even characterize it that way. What *is* the spirit of the rule? That a team can take too much time substituting and still have someone running off the field at the snap as long as the guy doesn't take part in the play?
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I reckon the spirit of the substitution rule, as you just expressed it, makes sense. I was speaking of the spirit of the rule that thou shalt not have 12 men on the field.
Which wasn't even the call in question, so I'm wrong.
Illegal substitution, yeah, that's it right there. You took too long. You blew it. I guess that's why it's an illegal substitution penalty and not illegal participation (what one might normally think of as "12 men on the field"). You gain no actual playing advantage when a guy is a step and a half (and I don't even think it was a step and a half) from the sideline and hustling to get off, but an illegal substitution, at this level, yeah, that's exactly right. My bad.