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The last series of the Super Bowl prompted this thought: Does it make sense to practice and play a 12-man defense in certain game situations? Last night, the Pats needed a very big play in order to have a reasonable shot at scoring a touchdown. Why not "accidentally" play another safety to guard against this?

If the penalty for the infraction is only 5 yards, the cost seems minimal, especially if the defensive configuration results in a shorter pass that consumes more time while yielding shorter yardage. This is pretty much what happened for the Giants in that series. It cost them 5 yards in field position, but netted them 9 seconds on the clock. I think that is a tradeoff any team would make in that situation--multiple times (probably up to where the opponent reaches the defending team's side of the field).

You would not want a 12th man on the last play, as the defensive penalty would extend the game. But in situations where time is extremely limited and the opponent must go 50+ yards and score a touchdown, I think this strategy might be warranted.

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Silence is golden.

If the other team notices, they can just kneel or spike the snap and take 5 yards at a fraction of a second.

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If they notice, they might be better off taking the free play and throwing deep into double or even triple coverage and seeing if they get lucky.

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Silence is golden.

Not an easy thing to notice, plus it's most effective when the yards are meaningless compared to the time.

someone mentioned that being good strategy last night. Who knows, maybe it was intentional. early in the season, the Rams (of all teams ) had the Giants D on their heels in a game with the no-huddle offense clicking, and two Giants faked injuries at the same time.

They look like European football players. THIS IS AMERICA GODDAMN IT!!!

Bill Barnwell suggested amending the rule by letting the offensive team take either the play or the 5 yards + time spent added back.

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I found it funny that each super bowl team got penalized for 12 men on the field. Really??

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It's a good idea, kind of like the 2-minute fumble rule (cannot be advanced). The refs do have the discretion of doing this if they deem the infraction "intentional", but that is far too subjective to be properly implemented. A hard and fast rule inside 2 minutes that gives the offensive team the option of taking yards or time would be the best approach---if this is an issue.

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Silence is golden.

It think it was Golic who said Buddy Ryan had a 12 man defense for just this purpose.

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