newjerseynewsroom.com

Here's a football fact that may raise a few eyebrows.

On Super Bowl Sunday, YOU will probably see more action than most of the players on the Colts and Saints.

After all, there is very little actual football in a football game.

According to a Wall Street Journal study, the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

It is probably a safe assumption that the average Super Bowl viewer spends more than 11 minutes hustling and defending his territory around the avocado dip and buffalo wings.

Elbowing and jostling to get a beer at a party packed with people can be exhausting and time consuming.

Whew. That takes energy.

If you tally up everything that happens between the time the ball is snapped and the play is whistled dead by the officials, there's barely enough time to prepare a hard-boiled egg.

So, according to the Wall Street Journal study, here is the breakdown.

A regulation NFL game consists of four quarters of 15 minutes each, but because the typical play only lasts about four seconds, the ratio of inaction to action is approximately 10 to 1.

The average telecast devotes 56% more time to showing replays.

Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour.

As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps.

So that's what you get. One hundred million people tuning in ... for 11 Minutes of Football Action.

— ANDY LAGOMARSINO, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM