I realize how this article is about to make me sound. I am a bitter, paranoid, whiny Seattle Seahawks fan, looking for any excuse to accuse the team that stole our second straight Championship title of foul play and hate on the Patriots, just because they win games. I recognize that. The following report is most likely no more than a desperate conspiracy theory born from a vat of sour grapes, destined to be casually dismissed by the four people who end up reading it. But I worked hard making these GIFs, so here goes:
Much like the Deflategate prosecutors, I have no concrete evidence against Tom Brady et al., but something seemed a bit off about a certain moment in the fourth quarter on Thursday's season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It doesn't help that we're coming fresh off the world's shiftiest suspension dodge, (Set to be appealed once again by the NFL), but Brady looked like he had a little help from the booth at Gillette Stadium in a moment of need, a phenomenon highly, highly precedented in the Belickick era.
Watch:
Notice anything funny? That's okay. Neither did 98 percent of the sporting universe, because there's a 98 percent chance that what happened was perfectly legitimate.
But, for this article's three-out-of-four non-sports-watching-readers, here's a quick explanation of the perceived issue:
In a professional football game, at the end of a given play, the team possessing the football has 40 seconds to snap the ball and start the next play, otherwise they face a "Delay of Game" penalty, and are forced to move the ball back five yards. These 40 seconds are displayed on the "Play Clock," which functions independently from the "Game Clock," which counts down the time until the end of the present quarter. The Play Clock will count down from 40 and the ball must be snapped by then, even if the Game Clock is stopped. NBC's Play Clock is displayed at the bottom of the screen next to the Game Clock. Here is a close-up: 
, keep track of it in the following GIFs.
Here is the end of the play that occurred right before the Huddle shown above:
Notice the Play Clock begin its countdown from 40 at the end of the play.
Brady walks into his Huddle of teammates to discus the next play as the clock winds down:
But halfway through the meeting, he looks up at the clock and realizes his team won't have time to line up and start the next play before it hits zero.
So, he pumps his hand in the air and yells at the sidelines...
Boom.
Brady gets everybody lined up, runs down his 25 seconds, and starts the play.
A select few, mostly Steelers fans, noticed this, and recordings of it went viral in their community.
However, there are all sorts of exceptions to the 40 second rule, including timeouts, turnovers, kicks, etc., etc. Rule Four, Section Six, Article Two of the NFL Rulebook states:
"In the event of certain administrative stoppages or other delays, a team will have 25 seconds, beginning with the Referee’s whistle, to put the ball in play by a snap or a kick. Such stoppages include, but are not limited to:
- a change of possession
- a charged team timeout
- the two-minute warning
- the expiration of a period
- a penalty enforcement
- a [Point After Touchdown] Try
- a Free Kick.
A 25-second interval will be used in these situations, even if the 40-second clock is already counting down."
The thing is, none of those conditions applied to this situation. Admittedly, the rulebook says "not limited to," but seemingly the only reason they invoked this rule was "because Tom Brady wanted to." The counter-argument goes, "Tom Brady was just reminding the refs because they forgot to reset the clock. Refs forget to do that all the time." But there was no "administrative or other delay," a requisite of 4-6-2. Look at GIF number two. Rob Gronkowski gets pushed out of bounds while he's catching the ball, so the catch is ruled incomplete, which by rule stops the Game Clock. This should not affect the Play Clock.
Natural conclusion-jump from a petty, bitter Seahawks fan: Clockgate was an inside job. Gillette officials are paid to take signals from Brady and make innocent-looking adjustments to give the Patriots 55 seconds between plays when everyone else gets 40. Typical Belichick.
Reality: Something completely legitimate. But screw the Patriots anyway.
