The NFL "no-huddle" offense creates problems - for TV

The no-huddle offense has created plenty of problems for defenses, initially at the collegiate level and now in the NFL.  But as the WSJ reports, the tactic is also creating problems for television broadcasters:

Last week, 14% of NFL plays were run without a huddle, an increase of 56% from last season and 100% from five seasons ago. As you might imagine, these up-tempo drives can put a fair bit of pressure on the TV production crew...

Veteran broadcaster Marv Albert, who now calls NFL games for CBS, explained that the problem starts from the first play. If the team starts no-huddle on the first drive, the broadcast doesn't even have time to show the team's lineups. "And once you look down for an anecdote you're dead," Albert said. He added that when a team like New England is playing, he lives by a simple rule: "Don't talk about anything other than the play at hand, or you are going to miss snaps."...

During a Patriots game last fall against the Dallas Cowboys, the Patriots ran their offense so quickly that at one point in the third quarter, 10 plays went by without a replay. "When you're calling a Patriots game you cannot rest," Albert said.

Brian Billick, a former Ravens coach who is an analyst for Fox, said it's often nearly impossible to get even the shortest opinion across: "It's tight enough as it is, you only have 10-15 seconds to make a point and now you don't even have that." 

More at The Wall Street Journal.