Record pace of NFL penalties lengthens games by about four minutes

Jarrett Bell | USA TODAY Sports

NEW YORK — NFL games are running longer, and it doesn’t take an investigation from Ted Wells to determine the reason.

Blame it on those ubiquitous yellow flags.

Through four weeks of the regular season — with penalties occurring at a record pace — games ran an average of 3 hours, 8 minutes and 52 seconds, up nearly four minutes from the 3-hour, 5-minute average at a similar point last season.

Owners, conducting league meetings Wednesday, were briefed on early season patterns by the competition committee.

“What we’re trying to do is clean the game up a little bit, in terms of some of the penalties we’re calling,” said Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, a competition committee member. “I think eventually, it’ll come back around. But right now, we’re trying to clean it up. There’s some things we have to do now that we might have to sacrifice (the timing) a little bit.”

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So far, 1,143 penalties have been accepted, a record clip of 18.1 per game, which has greatly contributed to the longer games that the league has for years tried to contain. Given the made-for-TV flavor of the NFL, the league has traditionally sought for games to be played in about 3 hours. Two seasons ago, there were 924 accepted penalties through four weeks, an average of 14.7 per games.

But don’t blame the much-maligned officials. Nearly a third of the penalties this season have been pre-snap violations, including false starts, offsides and illegal formations.

Beyond that, officials are calling it as they see it — although there’s much debate about the back judge, Greg Wilson, who missed the illegal batting by Seattle Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright at the end of Monday night’s game between the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks that has fueled controversy.

Wednesday’s presentation to the owners included a warning about the consideration of adding an eighth official, which the league has experimented with in preseason and would mirror the college game.

Add another official at your own risk. Another set of eyes would undoubtedly mean more flags. And longer games.

Medical timeouts: NFL senior vice president of Health and Safety Policy Jeff Miller said there have been two uses of the new medical timeout rule through Week 4 of this season.

The rule was implemented this year and allows certified athletic trainers in skyboxes to halt play for a medical timeout to treat an injury that goes unnoticed by medical staff and referees on the field.

One instance came in the Pittsburgh Steelers-St. Louis Rams game Week 3 a few plays after Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger injured his knee, which caused the team’s medical staff to focus on treating him. When the trainer spotted Steelers corner Antwon Blake displaying concussion symptoms, the game was stopped, he was taken out and he went through protocol.

“In both cases, the system worked,” Miller said. “Players who the athletic trainer had identified as being in distress were pulled off the field. And that’s what we were hoping for. We’re encouraged. The athletic trainers are taking it seriously. It has happened occasionally, not frequently, but it’s something that we’ll continue to track.”

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Follow NFL columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell

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