Helemt Comes Off - under 1 minute in half

[El Macman]

With the current language, there is the distinct possibility of a team gaining a huge advantage - like winning the game - by having a helmet come off during the last minute of a half. Since the play clock is to set to 25 seconds, regardless of which team has the helmet come off, the team behind can force the team ahead to run a play when they might have otherwise been able to let the game clock expire.

A=22, B=20, 3/10, A-25, 4th period. A11 gains 4 yards and is tackled with the ball becoming dead in the field of play. As A11 is being tackled, the helmet of nearby B33 comes off and the clock is stopped accurately with 0:39 on the game clock. B33 is sent off the field and A accepts the 10-second subtraction, taking the clock down to 0:29. The play clock is set to 25 seconds, and the ball is made ready for play for 4/6, A-29. Both clocks are started correctly, and A snaps the ball with 4 seconds on the game clock. A11 muffs the snap, which is recoverd by B55 at the A-28, with  0:02 on the game clock. B takes over and kicks a field goal as time expires to win the game.

Those are circumstances approaching the extreme, but far stranger things have happened. I suppose a team that can't burn four or five seconds off the game clock doesn't deserve to win. But, it doesn't seem quite right to allow a team to be put in that position by the possibly deliberate illegal action of an opponent.

[Atlanta Blue]

Where is the deliberate illegal action by B?

[NVFOA_Ump]

Given that scenario it would seem that the fix is an easy one.  Simply change the language to state that if the helmet violation is against team B, that the play clock will be set to 40 seconds.  That would close that small 5 second window and eliminate any incentive for team B to try and game the rule either intentionally or "unintentionally".

[TXMike]

I don't see the logic in changing to 25 secs just becuase game clock is under 1 minute.  That does not happen in the case of an injured Team B player.  It still goes to 40 secs then   It ouight to in this scenario also.  What are they trying to accomplish or prevent by making it 25 secs?

[jg-me]

Anyone else think R can use discretion to set the play clock to 40? AR 3-4-3-II would seem to support this being an option.

[El Macman]

Where is the deliberate illegal action by B?

What was I thinking? There is absoluetly no possibility of a player deliberatley having his helmet come off during a play. That would be cheating. No player has ever faked an injury to get the clock stopped or prevent a team from snapping quickly, because that, too, would be cheating. And that never happens.
How could I have been so silly?

[Atlanta Blue]

What was I thinking? There is absoluetly no possibility of a player deliberatley having his helmet come off during a play. That would be cheating. No player has ever faked an injury to get the clock stopped or prevent a team from snapping quickly, because that, too, would be cheating. And that never happens.
How could I have been so silly?

If he does it deliberately, then it's a 15 yard penalty, drop the flag on him.  If you're not dropping a flag, then it wasn't a deliberate action.  It's your decision.

[TXMike]

Whether he does it deliberately or not, he gains by doing something wrong and that shoukd be avoided whenever possible

[El Macman]

If he does it deliberately, then it's a 15 yard penalty, drop the flag on him.  If you're not dropping a flag, then it wasn't a deliberate action.  It's your decision.

Deliberately removing one's helmet and deliberately having one's helmet come off are two different things. The former is almost always done with the hand(s), and is very obvious, even if done out of necessity, i.e., it has come partially off and it is more expedient to remove it than try to reposition it. On the other hand, loosening the straps to the point that it could be dislodged by contact with another player or the ground, or via a clandestine contortion of the body, is not going to be obvious, or even visible. We've all seen helmets coming flying out of a scrum, with no idea among the 5, 6, ot 7 of us how it happened. (If you haven't, you haven't been doing this very long.) Wasn't something to be concerned with, in the past, unless it was the BC. Now it is. But that doesn't mean it will always be easy to see, and that a team won't be able to do something deliberate to abuse the rule without detection.
As others have concluded, the clock status should be identical to an injury, or at least at the option of the offended team.

[El Macman]

Had a helmet pop off a defensive player as he made a tackle yesterday. He got to go sit out the next play. Very momentarily, he had that, "You gotta be kiddin' me!" look on his face, but when he got no sympathy from anybody, and his coach sent in a replacement immediately, he left quickly. No futher helmet losses.
I believe this rule is gonna work, even though it has the (IMHO) play clock flaw inside one minute.