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

In American football, the offense knows where it is going and what is going to happen, so they know where they are going to act, the defence has to react to what the offense is doing. In general it is more tiring to react than act.