Ever since the regular referees returned to start Week 4 last Thursday in Baltimore (photo at left), there has been something missing from NFL games ...
... about six minutes.
While it seemed like some of those games the first three weeks went on for a day or so, but the longest non-overtime game was 3:42 (Redskins-Saints, Week 1). Last weekend's longest game was just 3:31 (also Redskins, vs. Buccaneers).
There were more sub-three hour games in Week 4 (6) than there were during the entire Replacement Ref Era (5).
And only two games this last weekend took 3:20 or longer. There were 15 such games in Weeks 1-3.
Here's a look at the length of each week's NFL games (overtime games not inclued):