N. Carolina/Tennessee

[rulesmaven]

Really interesting discussion about the participation v. formation question.

After the game, the Tennessee coach was making the point that the NFL has a 10 second run off for this situation, but I'm not sure he was right. I think the NFL rule only applies to motion penalties, but not formation. (I'm not sure about participation.)

Anyway, this got me to thinking about a question for these sorts of end of game situations. If you're ok with a 5 yard penalty and out of time outs, why go through the effort of lining up in a regular formation at all? Suppose you make a play down the field with very little time left that doesn't stop the clock? (Maybe it was a 1st and 20 and you only get 18 or something.) Rather than running your linemen all the way to the line, just coach them to stand still. The player who had the ball can just run up to the spotted ball and snap it to another player -- say, a receiver who is also downfield with him to clock the ball.

So long as everyone is still, would this work or be anything other than a formation penalty? Even if everyone is not still, it's still only 5 yarder, right? (Although in the NFL, you have the 10 second run off.) Could save 10 seconds or so. I always see teams in the situation run the line and get everyone set before they snap and clock -- even after a first down where the clock stops until the ready signal, they lose several seconds. Why bother if you're ok with 5 yards?