Alright, let me tell ya ’bout this here out of bounds clock stop stuff in football, the NFL kind. It ain’t as complicated as them city folks make it sound, ya know.
When that clock stops ticking
So, when a fella runnin’ with the ball steps out of bounds, that clock, it usually stops. But it ain’t always that simple, no sir. See, they changed things a bit back in the day, ’round 1990 or somethin’. Before that, every time a fella went out, the clock stopped, made the game drag on longer than a Sunday sermon.
Now, if a fella catches the ball and then goes out, the clock stops. Happens three ways, they say. First, if he catches it and then his feet take him out. Second, if he fumbles and then goes out. Third, when they can’t figure out whether he caught it inbounds or out, so they stop to look at it real close. Seems fair enough, I reckon.
- Catch and go out
- Fumble and go out
- Figure out where he caught it
But here’s the kicker, the part that gets some folks confused. In the last two minutes of the first half, and the last five minutes of the second half, things get a little different. They call this the two-minute warning and five-minute things.
That tricky two-minute warning and five-minute thing
If a fella’s runnin’ and he goes out backwards, that clock, it keeps on tickin’. Yep, you heard right. They don’t want no shenanigans, no fellas fakin’ goin’ out just to stop the clock. Smart, them fellas makin’ the rules, sometimes.
But, if the ball itself goes out of bounds in those last two minutes of the first half or five minutes of the second half, then the clock stops. That makes sense, I guess. Gotta give ’em time to set up the next play.
And lemme tell ya, they always stop the clock for a bit just to put the ball where it needs to be, even if it ain’t them special last two or five minutes. But it only stays stopped if it’s in that two-minute warning or the five-minute thing.
It wasn’t always this way
Like I said, they changed things up a while back. Used to be, any time a fella went out, the clock stopped, no matter when it was. They wanted to speed things up, make the game a little faster. Halftime used to be longer too, fifteen minutes, can ya believe it? Now it’s shorter, which is good, ’cause I got things to do, ya know?
Other times the clock stops
Now, there are other times the clock stops too, not just when a fella goes out. If a pass ain’t caught, that stops the clock. That’s when you see those quarterbacks throwin’ the ball into the ground on purpose, they call it spikin’ the ball. They can only do that when the clock’s already stopped or after a penalty. Back in the day, they weren’t allowed to do that at all, would get a penalty for throwin’ it away like that.
What’s inbounds and what’s out?
It’s simple, if a fella with the ball, if any part of his body or the ball touch that white line on the side, he’s out. They blow the whistle and the play is over. Just like that.
So, there ya have it. That’s the long and short of it, as best as I can tell ya. This out of bounds clock stop thing ain’t so hard to understand after all. Just gotta remember them last two minutes and five minutes, and that backwards runnin’ thing. Now, go enjoy your football game!
Tags: [NFL, Football Rules, Clock Management, Out of Bounds, Game Clock, Two Minute Warning, Five Minute Rule]
