The time gap between plays in the NFL is 40 seconds. Compare that to the time taken between serves in tennis, shots in golf, dead ball restarts in football/rugby, balls in cricket (by a fast bowler!) or any number of other sporting scenarios. Basically, all sports are somewhat stop/start. Go to an athletics, horse racing or swimming event and there's a huge gap between races. The only sport I can think of that has an almost continuous flow is darts!
Whilst I don't think the time between plays or after scores is unreasonable, I do have a bit of a gripe with a couple of other stoppages in the NFL, and can perhaps sympathize with the sports knockers.
Firstly, Timeouts -specifically those that occur when a team has made a mistake. 12 players on the pitch? Wrong formation? Players not ready before the clock expires? No problem, just call a timeout so we can all sit around for 5 minutes whilst the coaches sort out what they got wrong! It's like a "Get out of jail free" card and to me it seems a bit unfair. If you've got your tactics or planning wrong then tough. It just seems like a cheap option to cover your errors. I've got no problem with the 30 second time outs in the last 2 minutes as clock management is part of the skill of coaching and playing. Similarly the "2 minute warning" is a chance for the players and coaches to reassess their strategy for the end of the half. Whilst video reviews and injuries are part of the game It's just the long timeouts due to team errors that are annoying!
Except that is for the reason I'm eliminating my next team...penalties!
Penalties are annoying in all sports as they are down to player error most of the time. Sure there are referring mistakes and the occasional bit of bad luck but most of the time it's down to a dumb bit of play from a highly paid professional. When I watch sport I find that my negative emotions aren't triggered by opposition players, fans or even referees. Most of the time my anger and frustration is directed to my own team's players.In the NFL it's just as annoying, a grab of a helmet, an early movement, an over excited celebration or -worst of all - an offence after the play is called dead. I found it all very frustrating, especially at 1am on a Sunday night when my window for sleep is growing ever smaller! So, I really don't want to support a team that commits the most penalties in the league - that would just annoy me and make me regret my choice...so it's back to the stats.
Anyway who follows the NFL won't be overly surprised at the identity of the worst culprits in the league, it's that friendly bunch from California, the Oakland Raiders. Averaging a whopping 10.2 penalties per game, the Raiders are almost 2 fouls per match ahead of their nearest challenges (the Seattle Seahawks). In terms of distance, the Raiders give up an average of 84 yards per match! which is near enough the entire length of the field - effectively another score for the opposition.
So it's bye bye to Oakland, which leaves me a bit ambivalent. I know the Raiders provoke a lot of strong emotions in fans but they've never had that effect on me. I'm not a Raiders hater like some people, in fact I like some of their players - in particular their kicker/punter duo of Janokowski and Lechler. A pairing who give hope to everyone that no maybe what shape or size they are they can still make it as a top level sportsman. But there do seem to be a very frustrating team to support, on top of the penalties they do have a penchant in recent years for failing to make the most of their chances. This year they were in pole position in a very weak division and contrived to allow Denver to overtake them thanks to some silly defeats.
All of which leaves me with 21 teams...
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