Eli5 why in football do they always reference rest as beneficial to the defense?

Question

So watching college football today the announcers always make a statement like “That drive took 10 minutes so the defense got a good rest”. How is that rest only beneficial to the defense and not for the opposing offense?

In: 744

Answer 1

The offense gets to dictate the pace. If the offense wants to play quickly, it’s up to the defense to keep up with that. If the offense needs to take extra rest, they can use up more clock to do so.