Warrior General Games

Do shotgun plays, generally speaking, take less time off the clock?

Since your not spending that time for the QB to drop back....does that save a second or two?

Yes I know there are many other variables. But still.

Does it?

You still drop back on shotgun plays

Well yeah but not as much.

So far short completions on SG pass seems to be 30 second plays, 2-3 second incompletes.

I Form pass comparison, 36 second plays, 5 second incompletes.

Not exactly exhaustive data but makes me think its worth examining further.

If you're building a comeback-offense based on how much time you lose on INCOMPLETE PASSES, you are doing it wrong.

You should be building a comeback-offense based on moving the ball down the field. 4 straight incompletions ain't gonna do it, regardless of whether each one eats up 3 seconds or 5 seconds.

Originally posted by Novus
If you're building a comeback-offense based on how much time you lose on INCOMPLETE PASSES, you are doing it wrong.

You should be building a comeback-offense based on moving the ball down the field. 4 straight incompletions ain't gonna do it, regardless of whether each one eats up 3 seconds or 5 seconds.

Heh yes obviously you would want to pick the plays that connect. But if using shotgun formations gets you an extra attempt or two over a drive, that might be worth focusing on.

Originally posted by yello1

So far short completions on SG pass seems to be 30 second plays, 2-3 second incompletes.

I Form pass comparison, 36 second plays, 5 second incompletes.
.

you answered your own question..................good boy

Originally posted by ron2288
you answered your own question..................good boy

Was a very small sample using just a couple of plays, thought some one else may have put together something more in depth.

Every play takes the same amount of time from snap... duration of play then determines whatever extra time is needed to finish the play. (example; You run the same play twice... 1st time is a 5 yard gain... second time is a 45 yard. The second running of said play would run longer than the first.) Passing plays have the extra benefit of stopping the clock upon an incompletion. Other than that, all things else are equal.

Originally posted by Theo Wizzago
Every play takes the same amount of time from snap... duration of play then determines whatever extra time is needed to finish the play. (example; You run the same play twice... 1st time is a 5 yard gain... second time is a 45 yard. The second running of said play would run longer than the first.) Passing plays have the extra benefit of stopping the clock upon an incompletion. Other than that, all things else are equal.

that doesnt make any sense at all... in what way then does every play take the same amount of time? it doesn't...

Yeah, I don't think Theo is right either. I've seen cases where the same running play is called twice for the same result, but one plays takes several more seconds to run than the other. In the first play, the RB could take the handoff, hit the hole untouched, and then go down immediately when he's hit for a 3-yard gain. In the other play, the RB could take the handoff, have to break a tackle in the backfield due to the G getting rev-caked, have to break another tackle at the line, and then drag a defender a yard before finally going down -- for a 3-yard gain. Exactly same play-call, exact same result, but the second play takes more time off the clock.

When it comes to timing issues on plays, there's just no way of knowing in advance how much time a given play is going to take off of the clock. You can search for overall trends (like yello is doing), but there are always going to be outliers. Shotgun plays may seem to be quicker on average than under-center plays, but there will be cases where a shotgun play gets dragged out for a while (say, the QB has to scramble around for a while and finally finds an open man) and cases where an under-center play goes very quickly (say, the QB reads a blitz and also notices CB1 is giving WR1 a 5-yard cushion and throws him a bullet 2 seconds into the play).

And that's just how long it takes for the QB to throw it. You also have to account for what happens if the WR makes the catch... he could go down immediately, or he could shake off his man and rumble un-touched down to the 2-yard-line before getting run down and tackled.

There's just no simple answer to this. Anyone who thinks there is one is just plain foolish.

certain plays take longer to execute then others, but there is no telling for what will actually go down between the lines

Ok. Follow along here. At the END of each play one of two things happens. A.) The clock stops for whatever reason (INC pass, out of bounds, time out, ect, ect, ect...) or, B.) the clock continues. Since this is a static game of numbers, it differs from "real football" in that the amount of time AFTER the last play ends is hard-coded (as long as the clock continues to run). SooOOoo... if you count time from the snap of the ball at the beginning of each play, the amount of time is always the same until the outcome of the play alters that number (aka, the amount of time taken). This is what I meant about a play that gains 40 yards takes more time than a play that only gets 5 (as long as the end of both plays are the same [meaning the clock either stops or doesn't stop for BOTH play outcomes]).
I said it that way because, as I read the OP's question, they want to know if it takes less time for a shotgun snap than a normal snap. In "real life", there could be a deviance of time (like a nano second)... but not in GLB time. A passing play from a normal snap generally takes the same amount of time as the very same passing play from a shotgun snap... with the amount of time difference between any like plays being the outcome of said play... not the start of it. (Wow... even my own head hurts trying to type this out... but I hope this explains my earlier post).

Theo, I think you're WAY over-thinking the OP's question.

He's not talking about how long it takes for the ball to travel from the Center's hands to the QB's hands.

He's talking about how long it takes for the QB to drop back AFTER he takes the snap.

He's thinking that since the QB usually likes to drop back to 5-6 yards behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a pass, that drop-back will take less time from the Shotgun formation than from other formations... in Shotgun, the QB is already 4 yards back and only has to drop back 2 more yards, while in other formations the QB is only 1 yard back and has to drop back 5 more yards. Since it takes less time to run 2 yards than 5 yards, he thinks it might help him.

I don't think it makes a difference either way, and I also think it's more important to pick plays that WORK in ANY formation, rather than clock-watching. It's all well and good to pick plays that you think will take less time, but you know what play takes less time than any other? An incomplete pass. And an incomplete pass is a waste of a down when you're trailing by 2 from your own 15 with 1:30 left and trying to get into FG range. You need YARDS. If you try to get cute with the clock instead of picking effective plays that move the ball, you'll just throw 4 incomplete passes and turn the ball over on downs with 1:10 left, and the other team will run the clock out on you.

If you're trying to time plays down to the second in your 4th-quarter offense, you're doing it wrong. It's just not possible in dotball.