35 Second Play Clock

[bomb squad]

Well, we were able to see several games in the pre-season of this in action. The most telling one, the live game many of us saw at the stadium, where we were able to see how it all operated.   

To me it seemed that, in general, the offences had more time to work with than in the old system. If I had to put a quantity to that, I would say at least 5 seconds. The intent, of course, was not to give the offences more time, or slow the "feel" of the game down. But that's the way it felt to me. In general, the offences operated at the same pace as before, but the "urgency" didn't seem to be there. There was often 8+ seconds left when they snapped the ball. In games where a team has a substantial lead in the second half, they may choose to use those seconds. That's not good.

Now, part of that was the delay in starting the clock. That was usually about 2 secs. That's an easy fix. Start it when the whistle ends the previous play.

I'd like to hear other's thoughts and take on it. Am I out to lunch on what I "felt"? Too early to tell? We can always update this as the season progresses. And let's just try to keep it about the play clock only. Please and thank you.

[Jesse]

It's hard to say without a few regular season games. Maybe I'll notice the difference more in a regular TSN broadcast.

Apparently the clock moves back and forth a bit. It's still 20 seconds after timeouts and penalties, etc.

I saw one guy on reddit who claims to have counted plays and says were losing 20+ plays a game in the preseason compared to a random sampling of regular season games from last year. Approximately 110 to 130.So there's also that to consider.

I will say this though - as someone who is not a fan of the field changes and am bitterly opposed to all things Stew due to that fact - there have been many games in the past where I have been frustrated with the refs not placing the ball and moving onto the next play in a timely fashion, especially when the offence is moving. In an ideal world, this helps that. Of course, in the CFL, the refs will probably still do what they want.

[Tecno]

It's hard to say without a few regular season games. Maybe I'll notice the difference more in a regular TSN broadcast.

I agree.  If I hadn't have known there was a new clock paradigm, I wouldn't even have noticed.

Apparently the clock moves back and forth a bit. It's still 20 seconds after timeouts and penalties, etc.

Ya, and I could have sworn I noticed a couple of times the refs whistling things "out" to get some stuff fixed up (probably the spot).  So I think if it's about to get "keystone cops" out there they will just whistle and wave their arms as an "out".  And that's ok, but it can slightly bias the games if they give extra time or whatever to one team and not the other.

I saw one guy on reddit who claims to have counted plays and says were losing 20+ plays a game in the preseason compared to a random sampling of regular season games from last year. Approximately 110 to 130.So there's also that to consider.

a) This will show up in stats early, and StatsJunkie will be all over it.  That would be quite a debacle given that the main selling point was more plays per game.

b) Could just be a PS thing: at the end of our PS2 we could have gone quick game and all-pass to stop the clock, etc, but we didn't.  We just wanted it to end.  That won't happen in a real game.

I will say this though - as someone who is not a fan of the field changes and am bitterly opposed to all things Stew due to that fact - there have been many games in the past where I have been frustrated with the refs not placing the ball and moving onto the next play in a timely fashion, especially when the offence is moving.

And one of the main selling points was teams can't dilly-dally deciding units and slow-walking substitutions... what if that was a bit of a misdirection and a big part of it is making the refs & stick crews work faster??

Another thing I found odd was they still whistle the new play in, like with 15-25s to go.  I had this idea that there would be no "whistle in", but I guess they need to signal when they are satisfied the team can snap.  (In the NFL, in the frenzied last minute of a game when the down team is trying to come back and the refs run to place the ball -- do they whistle it in? or just get the bleep out of the way and snap there they go?)

[Jesse]

a) This will show up in stats early, and StatsJunkie will be all over it.  That would be quite a debacle given that the main selling point was more plays per game.

b) Could just be a PS thing: at the end of our PS2 we could have gone quick game and all-pass to stop the clock, etc, but we didn't.  We just wanted it to end.  That won't happen in a real game.

When you think about it, the game clock would be stopped under the old rules while refs and players ran to the new line. Now, the game clock keeps going unless there is a stoppage. Makes sense that there will be less plays.

[BIGBLUE204]

I agree.  If I hadn't have known there was a new clock paradigm, I wouldn't even have noticed.

Ya, and I could have sworn I noticed a couple of times the refs whistling things "out" to get some stuff fixed up (probably the spot).  So I think if it's about to get "keystone cops" out there they will just whistle and wave their arms as an "out".  And that's ok, but it can slightly bias the games if they give extra time or whatever to one team and not the other.

a) This will show up in stats early, and StatsJunkie will be all over it.  That would be quite a debacle given that the main selling point was more plays per game.

b) Could just be a PS thing: at the end of our PS2 we could have gone quick game and all-pass to stop the clock, etc, but we didn't.  We just wanted it to end.  That won't happen in a real game.

And one of the main selling points was teams can't dilly-dally deciding units and slow-walking substitutions... what if that was a bit of a misdirection and a big part of it is making the refs & stick crews work faster??

Another thing I found odd was they still whistle the new play in, like with 15-25s to go.  I had this idea that there would be no "whistle in", but I guess they need to signal when they are satisfied the team can snap.  (In the NFL, in the frenzied last minute of a game when the down team is trying to come back and the refs run to place the ball -- do they whistle it in? or just get the bleep out of the way and snap there they go?)

The refs in the NFL place the ball down when the reffing crew is set and then they get out of the way.

[TBURGESS]

Not as big a difference as I was expecting, but preseason means not trying to drain the clock in the 4th. That will come into play during the season, meaning fewer plays in the 4th Q. 

[Stats Junkie]

2026 Pre-Season details
Average game length - 2 hours 41 minutes
Average number of plays per game - 143⅓
Games that ended with multiple knees - 4
Games that ended with 1 knee and a clock run off - 2
Games that ended with 1 run and a run off - 1 (this wasn't supposed to happen)
5 Time Count violations - 4 on kicking situations
2 Delay of Game penalties - on kickoffs

* I guesstimate that we shaved 4 plays due to the new clock run off rules

2025 Pre-Season details
Average game length - (just under) 2 hours 43 minutes
Average number of plays per game - 146⅓
Games that ended with multiple knees - 5
There was no option to run clock after 1 knee
6 Time Count violations - 2 on kicking situations
0 Delay of Game penalties

Historically, pre-season games tend to be completed in a shorter amount of time because there is no Replay Centre constantly intervening. Overall the differences between 2025 & 2026 seem negligible. I also think the new 35/20 second procedures are a work in process.

Things I learned on Coaches Show on Monday
The 35 second clock does not reset as soon as the play has been whistled dead (as promised). The new clock starts within a "couple of beats" of the end of a play, whatever that means. It also sounds like if there is no commercial break after the convert attempt, the 35 second clock runs twice with a Delay of Game penalty charged if you do not get the kickoff away before the 2nd 35 second count down expires.

[Sway]

The refs in the NFL place the ball down when the reffing crew is set and then they get out of the way.

Will refs get out of the way in CFL fast enough?  I can see plays being blown dead and killing any hurry up scenarios.

If you wanna do that fast snap in old time system there was always a lag, waiting for stick crew or defensive players to get back across,then refs to blow in play.

I dont think there should be a 2nd whistle at 20 seconds after the play clock starts at 35 immediately after previous play ended.

I think if a team did some hurry up to start a game in 2026 it could really throw a defense off. I dont see Willie J hustling back to line of scrimmage after a play if hes 15 yards deep

Potential for offsides or worse faking injuries

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

Will refs get out of the way in CFL fast enough?  I can see plays being blown dead and killing any hurry up scenarios.

If you wanna do that fast snap in old time system there was always a lag, waiting for stick crew or defensive players to get back across,then refs to blow in play.

I dont think there should be a 2nd whistle at 20 seconds after the play clock starts at 35 immediately after previous play ended.

I think if a team did some hurry up to start a game in 2026 it could really throw a defense off. I dont see Willie J hustling back to line of scrimmage after a play if hes 15 yards deep

Potential for offsides or worse faking injuries

Never thought of this but somebody mentioned it during PS#2 and it kind of makes sense, from Stuart Johnson's perspective as a TSN guy, they are likely more concerned about the efficient sponsorship of the broadcast time than the quality of the football being played.  This looks to be a corporate push towards efficiency, forcing the officials to hurry the play in so replay challenges are not called as often, limit the on-field conferences that help get the call right and rush onto the next play.  All in the effort to tighten the broadcast schedule so they can efficiently program more commercials into less game time.

I could be wrong but I sensed there was an increase in commercials breaks taken during the preseason.

[bomberjunkie]

Can someone explain why the play clock and game clock stopped at the 4th quarter 3 min mark? It was a bit jarring.

I hope this will not be a regular thing.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Can someone explain why the play clock and game clock stopped at the 4th quarter 3 min mark? It was a bit jarring.

I hope this will not be a regular thing.

It's a new rule change. There's a hard stop at exactly 3 minutes in each half. O'Shea actually said he likes it from a competitiveness standpoint because teams would use clock management to run the right play and be down to 2:35 or so under the old rules (if they were in the lead). Therefore, this way there's always a full 3 minutes of 20 second play clock craziness which everyone seems to like.

Or put simply, prepare to be jarred regularly.

[bomberjunkie]

It just seems to me that lining up at 3:10, only for the whistle to blow the play down with 10 or 25 seconds on the play clock, followed by a TV timeout, isn't particularly smooth.

Could they just go straight to TV timeout and old timing rules if the last play is whistled dead between 3:15 and 3:00?

[Sir Blue and Gold]

It just seems to me that lining up at 3:10, only for the whistle to blow the play down with 10 or 25 seconds on the play clock, followed by a TV timeout, isn't particularly smooth.

Could they just go straight to TV timeout and old timing rules if the last play is whistled dead between 3:15 and 3:00?

They could do anything I suppose but that's what they decided to do. It's exactly the same as the NFL but down south it's 2 minutes of each half.

[dd]

Can someone explain why the play clock and game clock stopped at the 4th quarter 3 min mark? It was a bit jarring.

I hope this will not be a regular thing.

Clock will stop at the 3 min mark of the 2nd and 4th quarters, this is when the game timing changes and that affects play calling. Incomplete passes and balls ran out of bounds stop the clock until the snap of the ball vs when the refs place it down for scrimmage. Huge change in play calling. That's why teams who have the lead generally try and run the ball so they can run a full 20 seconds off the clock vs 6 seconds on a pass. Conversely, teams that are behind generally try and throw the out patterns so the receivers can get out of bounds to stop the clock or an incomplete pass stops the clock.

regarding the 35 second clock, the old way, the refs used to have to wait for the ball boys to hustle in to give them a new ball on an overthrown ball/incomplete pass...this usually took 10-15 seconds, then the ball was spotted and teams had 20 seconds to put the ball in. Now, when the refs blow the play dead, the next 35 seconds clock is running, so its more consistent between a run to the inside, where the ball is right beside the umpire generally, and would take 5 seconds to spot the ball, vs an incomplete out pass or long bomb, which would take 10-15 seconds for the ball boy to run the ball in. This just makes it consistent for every play and I like the rule change as the game should flow consistently 35 seconds in between plays, barring team and TV timeouts.