Running out the play?

Question
Arthur
This is the time of year I get more serious about watching NFL football. It is a complicated game, and I know about 75% of it, but once or twice a game something will come up that confuses me. Tonight I watched the Cardinals Seahawks tilt. With about 20 seconds to go in the third, the cards had the ball, but opted to 'run out the play'. They just walked off the field. I thought this was only acceptable at the end of a game with the lead not in question.
Also, I cant find any Facebook fan sites for NFL, or any other sites that are helpfull with rules, etc.
Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hello Bud,

I will start with answering the lack of websites for fans and rules. As far as the rules go, they are constantly changing, especially as of late. The league is in constant battle of trying to make it better without taking away from the game. I have been seriously thinking of starting a Facebook fan site just for that.

As far as running out the game clock. A team does not have to run a play if the amount of time on the game clock is less than the amount of time on the play clock. That rule applies to any quarter. Now teams are allowed 40 seconds to start a new play from a continued time of the play before. But if there is an official stoppage; timeout or penalty, the team has 25 seconds to start it's next play. In that same rule, the defense cannot get a penalty to stop the clock and force the offense to run another play.

Thank you for allowing Allexperts to answer your sports question. I hope I have given you enough info to answer your question.

Arthur