Why Nine Minute Quarters Work In Madden - tommycoa's Blog

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Why Nine Minute Quarters Work In Madden

Posted on August 8, 2018 at 05:46 PM.

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This is a better way to look at 9 minute quarters. Think of the game in storytelling terms because sports games are dramas with chapters (quarters/innings/rounds) and acts within the quarters, (commercial breaks,
Injury timeouts)

1st quarter:

Has three acts.
Each three minute block is an act.
Three acts accumulate 30 plays.
If you skip cutscenes, you get 3 plays a minute. But if there�s no stoppage of play�penalty, injury timeout, or incompletion, there could be up to 5. Freak occurrences may cause more, but it�s rare. I usually see 30 plays in the first quarter.

2nd Quarter:

Has Four Acts.
First three minutes
Six minutes to Four Minutes.
Four minutes to Two minutes.
Two minutes until half.

The first 7 minutes gives you 21-25 plays on average.

The final 2 minutes are harder to average because teams go into hurry up, there�s 6 timeouts that almost always get used, and We get a flood of plays and there�s lots of variables and that�s why there�s a wider median. The last 2 minutes of the half averages anywhere from 12-24 plays, and 18 average, we�ll say. This is very unpredictable. Depends on how close the game is.

The third quarter is a mirror of the the 1st�3 acts. And the second a mirror of the fourth, except the fourth quarter maybe has 5 acts. With the final minute being the last act or the climax.

That�s 15 acts. Nice symmetrical number that adheres to standard storytelling techniques, because after all, a ball game is a story that unfolds. Quarters are chapters and these acts are the scenes that make the chapter.

1st quarter-30 plays

2nd quarter-43 plays

3rd quarter 30 plays

4th quarter 43 plays

That�s a 146 plays. Give or take.

Now the problem with 7 minute quarters is, it�s harder to break 7 minutes into proper acts. The 9 minute mold congeals with the 15 minute act.

This is the best I can explain it.