The Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers will be forever linked. The future Hall of Fame quarterback spent 18 years in Green Bay, starting 15 of them as the starting quarterback. Regardless of your personal feelings about Rodgers, he has repeatedly demonstrated that he is one of the smartest quarterbacks to ever play the game.
Those smarts are often manifested in the form of exploiting NFL rules. However, one rule that the NFL may enforce in the near future could be detrimental to the 40-year-old quarterback.
According to Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers received some bad news from the NFL.
In Week Four’s Lions-Packers game, the third quarter ended just before the Packers snapped the ball. The play should have been blown dead right away, but the officials missed it, and the Packers gained 44 yards. The Lions were not pleased, but there was no way to correct the authorities’ error.
If the Competition Committee’s new rule proposal is approved, such errors can be corrected.
The proposed rule change simply says, “The game clock is reviewable to determine if the period expired before any snap.” In other words, if the clock read:00 at the end of a quarter or overtime, but the ball was still snapped, replay might correct the error.
This has no bearing on game penalty delays because it only affects the game clock, not the play clock.
It’s not a common issue, but it has the ability to change the game, and it appears like the league will approve the idea. Like all rule modifications, at least 24 of the 32 NFL teams must vote in support of it.
Rodgers Has Made A Living From The Play Clock.
According to Paul Noonan:
Half of the Packers’ snaps in 2020 (excluding the fourth quarter) came in the final 5 seconds of the play clock. That is astounding, and the only other club that came close was the Eagles. Similarly, the Packers nearly never snap the ball with more than 16 seconds remaining. When they try to make a return, this tendency is equally obvious.
Rodgers is well-known for taking use of the play clock. It will be interesting to see if the NFL continues to push Aaron Rodgers outside of his comfort zone.
