About an hour ago
Steelers fans angry at the way the first half of the Monday evening match ended have every right.
So does coach Mike Tomlin.
This is the opinion of former NFL referee Gene Steratore. A native of West Pennsylvania is now an Official CBS Analyst. He described the chaos surrounding Washington’s second field goal at the end of the second quarter as a “complete administrative collapse by officials.”
The Steelers sacked Washington midfielder Alex Smith in third place with only 19 seconds remaining on the clock. Washington had just passed its third (and final) ultimatum before that surprise.
After Smith was sent off, he ran to the sidelines with the ball. And the “K-ball” (or kicking ball) was “not close to where to bring” according to referee John Hussey.
As a result, there was no ball to kick around the clock. So the clock stopped with eight seconds remaining, and Dustin Hopkins of Washington dug a 49-yard field goal to shrink Washington’s deficit to 14-3.
Every point counted in the game, still tied at 17-17 with 2:49 left when Hopkins kicked the final field goal. He added another before the match ended and Washington won 23-17.
You can see the th The full sequence is here.
The problem started when Washington called timeout before three, Stirator says. Steratore asserts that, at that point, officials should have reached out to each other to prepare the K-ball, knowing that Washington had no further leeway between third and fourth down.
He believes the crew should have better anticipated the urgent field goal attempt. Stephon Tweets sacked Smith with 19 seconds on the clock. On his wireless microphone, Hussey described the ensuing stopwatch as “an administrative problem.”
That phrase is in the official NFL guidelines, according to Steratore. But it’s usually reserved for accidents like being knocked out by a chain crew during a collision on the sidelines, or similar complications.
Not an hourly stop. This is how Stirator described what happened.
“When this hour stops, no matter who benefits, this play is an explosion,” Stiratore said during his weekly appearance on. WDVE Radio.
Here’s what should have happened according to Steratore.
“Right away (after the sack), one of those officials should be shouting for a K ball,” Stiratore explained.
He went on to say that if, for some reason, an official couldn’t get a proper K ball, they should use any other ball.
“We’re not in Pop Warner where we hired someone off the sidelines to run with the balls and vanish early to line up before halftime. There are people on the sidelines in the NFL. One of them wears regular soccer balls, another guy wears a big jacket and a huge” K “standing Next to that official with all the kicking balls. “
But that was not where the error ended.
“Then there was an unintended signal for the official stop of the watch eight seconds ago. That can’t happen. You can’t stop a watch like this because someone doesn’t have football yet.”
Understandably, Tomlin was still upset on Tuesday afternoon about what had happened.
“I knew they were wrong,” said Tomlin during his press conference on Tuesday. “I was trying to help them do it right. I’m not looking for explanations.”
Some Steelers fans on Twitter wondered why Smith had not been called in to postpone the match. Steratore had an answer to that question, too.
“If third place drops to fourth, we are not supposed to be kicking anything other than a K ball,” Stiratore explained. “So he is not delaying the match with Al Qaeda in this sense because he is not intentionally doing anything for his team. But it is actually putting them in a more difficult position.”
Steratore added, Smith shouldn’t leave the field with the ball. But “80% of NFL plays” don’t end with the referees using the same ball in the next shot, unless the previous play was “A Half-Bound Round”.
However, the poor decision to stop the watch negates any part of that discussion anyway.
“The criticism that has to be followed is justified, and it is not an acceptable mistake at this level of football.”
OK. So my next question is, what happens to the officials who failed to take action? And what prevents the other quarterback from trying to create the same level of confusion next week?
Tim Benz is a writer for Tribune Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All Tweets can be reposted. All emails are publishable unless stated otherwise.
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