The list and seriousness of the grievances of local sports fans seem to have been amplified during A) matches against rivals, B) matches that go wrong and C) matters relating to arbitration.

The tripta hit several times, and then, during the frustrating loss of 21 to 16 Vikings against the Packers. Choose your least favorite offensive pass interference … or just note that the Vikings have been reported 8 times for 100 yards (against 6 and 35 for Green Bay) and that fire will start in no time.

But one thing in particular seemed to draw the attention of many people (me included) on Twitter on Sunday: the propensity of Aaron Rodgers to bring the clock back to a fraction of zero, sometimes beyond, before throwing the ball. and yet reported all day to delay the game. (Screen capture via @joefujinaka).

Indeed, it appeared that the game clock was exhausted several times on Green Bay, but the only penalty of delay imposed during the game against the Packers touched the end of the match and was intentional before a punt. So why did not Rodgers and Packers be called? Let's see what happens:

* If you assume that the game clock you see on TV is somewhat different than the stadium, this is incorrect. Ryan Russell, a former student of mine now working in broadcasting, confirms what I've seen elsewhere: the clocks are connected directly to the show, so what you see in the stadium is what you see on TV. It does not always work perfectly, but it's the standard procedure.

Translation: It is unlikely that clock discrepancies will explain the absence of late penalties, as officials saw that there was time when home viewers did not.

* A better explanation, although not entirely satisfactory, comes from the website Football Zebras, which addressed this issue last year.

Basically, the back judge is the one who calls the game late and he has to watch both the game clock and the center / quarter. If the game clock reaches zero:

If the center hits the ball, the back judge does not call the game late. If the quarterback is still in his cadence and the center has not broken the ball, the back judge throws a flag for delay the game. Since the back judge has to go from the clock to the center, the offense naturally takes an extra quarter of a second for the match to be triggered. The back judge can not look at two places at once.

* OK, simple solution, no? Just allow the back judge to be warned in any way (like a ring on his hip?) That the timer has expired, so he does not have to look at two places at once. Then the playback clock can be a real 40 seconds, not 40.25 seconds or so.

Ah, that's where things get particularly frustrating. The NFL … does not want it that way. Again, by football zebras: The Competition Committee does not want this to be reduced to one-tenth of a second. They want the offense to go to zero, but not after. … If we switched to an exact science to determine the delay of the game, the game would bog down with a big jump in the late play fouls.

In addition, this tweet last year suggests that – according to Terry McAulay, expert in NFL officials for the NFL, referee in the NFL for two decades – the timer is a kind of suggestion.

Huh? This sounds absurd, especially for those of us who are watching decisions made in other leagues, like the NBA, with a fraction of seconds. It's a little at the discretion of the back judge, a bit like an umpire calling bullets and strikes.

* This makes it much easier to believe what Vikings fans would like to believe in the first place: that Rodgers escapes with special treatment and / or that there is a vast plot against purple, especially at Lambeau Field.

But: according to NFL Penalties, the Packers have been called to delay the game nine times in 2018 (seven accepted, two refused), the highest number of NFL teams. The Vikings have only been reported three times.

That does not mean, however, that Rodgers does not cross the line as many times as he is reported – he does not diminish the outrage factor on a frustrating Sunday either.