History[edit]
The origins are from the early years in the National Football League (NFL) when the official game time was kept by a member of the officiating crew, with the stadium clock being unofficial. Its purpose was a checkpoint to ensure that the teams knew how much time remained in the game. In the early 1960s the upstart American Football League (AFL) made the stadium clock the official game time, a change followed later in the decade by the NFL, shortly before its merger with the AFL. By then, television was an important factor in professional football, so the two-minute warning was retained as a commercial break and to serve as "tension building" time, and thus has become an important part of the game's flow.[3]
Strategy[edit]
The period of time between the two-minute warning and the end of the half is known as the two-minute drill. During this time, clock management becomes a more important aspect of the game, since by proper manipulation of the game clock, a team can, if trailing, prolong the game long enough to secure a score, or if in the lead, hasten the half's end before the opponent can score.
If the leading team has the ball on first down with less than two minutes to go in the game and the opposing team has no timeouts remaining, the quarterback can often safely end the game by taking a knee thrice consecutively without risking injuries or turnovers. This is because at the end of each play, the offensive team can take up to 40 seconds to start running the next play.
Other football leagues[edit]
The CFL has a three-minute warning.[3] Indoor American football leagues historically used a one-minute warning once a minute remained in the half/overtime. Before 2024, no comparable rule existed at the high school or college levels; at the high school level, the officials are instructed to inform each sideline when three minutes remain in a half, but the rule does not stop the game clock. In April 2024, the NCAA Football Playing Rules Oversight Committee approved the addition of the two-minute warning, effective with that season.[10] The 2022 version of the USFL used the two-minute warning, and stopped the game clock after first downs during that period. After the USFL merged with the 2020s version of the XFL, creating the current United Football League, the UFL adopted this USFL rule.