The NFL cannot have a rooting interest in which team wins each game, but they have to be breathing a sigh of relief that the Steelers were able to come from behind in the closing seconds on Monday Night Football to beat the Chargers. Otherwise, they’d have quite a bit of explaining to do over some inexcusable mismanagement of the game clock prior to the game’s final drive.
Late in the game, San Diego kicked a field goal to take a three-point lead, and the game clock showed there was 2:56 remaining. On the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers kicked the ball through the end zone for a touchback, which should have stopped the clock as a dead ball. However, it continued to run, and by the time the clock operator noticed, there was only 2:38 remaining. The officials never noticed the run-off, so Pittsburgh began their game-winning drive with 18 fewer seconds.
Immediately afterwards, Mike Pereira of Fox Sports tweeted some details and clarification on the incident.
FYI, the clock operator is hired and paid by the League office. They are local people except in the playoffs when locals are not used.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) October 13, 2015
Clock errors have to be corrected before the ball is next snapped. Can't go back after the next play is run.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) October 13, 2015
It ended up being much ado about nothing, because Michael Vick was able to march the team down the field for a game-winning touchdown anyway, which was capped off by Le’Veon Bell’s incredible lunge into the end zone from the wildcat formation in the closing seconds.
However, it still makes you wonder why the NFL continues to allow locals to operate their game clocks.
[via Larry Brown Sports]
