Why don't pro football teams use the hurry up offense BEFORE the end of the game?

Question

I mean, like the Steelers scored twice in like 5 minutes. so why not do that in the 2nd or 3rd quarter, get a lead, and not have to worry about it? If need be, they can still do it again in the last of the 4th quarter. And I dont just mean the Steelers, I mean any team in general.

Answer 1

Teams have done it. The Bills used the K-Gun offense a lot in their glory days. The Bills ran some no-huddle against the Ravens Sunday early.

The catch is that you don't want your defense out on the field for a long time. If you score in the two-minute offense, your offense comes right off. If you don't score, same thing. A little breathing time is good for the defensive players, so they don't get worn down.

Answer 2

It's been done. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Hurry up offenses usually work because teams don't put pressure on the QB, and play soft on receivers, giving up the short routes to protect against the long bomb. If you did it too much earlier in the games, teams would blitz more and jack up the receivers at the line so those quick hit, timing routes didn't work as well.

Anyway, it can work, but not as well as at the end of the game.

Answer 3

With a hurry up offense, you need a smart QB that can call audibles depending on how the defense lines up (see Peyton Manning). Also, you need to make sure all of the other players know the audible your calling and they know their assignments. A team also doesn't have their entire playbook set up with audibles, only a few plays for each type (like play action, deep pass, inside run, etc.).

Answer 4

The defenses are different earlier in the game. In a hurry up most of the time they run a prevent defense to keep from giving up a quick TD.