Did the officials cost the Titans a win?
From Ed Hochuli’s blown call in the Chargers-Broncos game to the conclusion of the San Diego-Pittsburgh contest, officials have made some huge blunders this season in the NFL.
Did they blow yet another call Saturday to aid the Ravens in their victory over the Titans?
Another game, another officiating error in the NFL. On a key 3rd and 2 with 2:52 remaining in today’s divisional playoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans, the play clock clearly expired well before Joe Flacco received the snap, but no delay of game call came from the officials.
The Ravens converted the first down on a long pass to Todd Heap, and ended up kicking the game winning field goal later in the drive.
It’s not uncommon for officials to miss the play clock hitting zero, but when they do the ball is snapped nearly immediately afterwards. On this play, the ball was snapped 1.35 seconds after the play clock expired (yes, I timed it). That might sound trivial, but it’s really, really not. It’s a long time. Watch the replay, it’s preposterous how long the back judge had to make the call.
This doesn’t excuse the Titans for giving up the first down on the 3rd and 2. Nor is it intended to suggest that the Ravens couldn’t have converted on 3rd and 7 after the penalty. The point is, they should have had to.
The game clock on the TV broadcast is not official, but it did look like the Ravens got away with one. Still, the Titans blew the game with their three turnovers, 12 penalties and inability to find the end zone without Chris Johnson. One play/call doesn’t make or break a game for a team.
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It sure looks like they blew it.
The Ravens are the most opportunistic team in football. They do it so often you can’t even call it luck.
The game clock on the broadcast certainly is official, because CBS shows the actual end-zone game clock superimposed on the screen, it wasn’t even close, they most certainly did cost them the game. You can’t say, well, they would have won if they didn’t turn the ball over, blah-blah, blah, because, they would have won the game with those turnovers, if only the referees, um, does his job!
I have no favorite team, I’m from Detroit, I’m a fan of the game, I hate to see teams unfairly win, its as if I’m watching the WWENFL all too often!
As I understand it, the official watches the clock, then when it hits zero, he looks down at the ball and if it hasn’t been snapped, then it’s a delay of game. So there is a built-in lag time there and we see it in just about every game. Teams always snap the ball after it hits double zero and get away with it. That said, the lag time in this case was awfully long, like 1.5 seconds.
Fast Eddie – yeah I can. If Alge Crumpler held onto the ball instead of fumbling on the 5-yard line late in the game and did his job, then maybe the game wouldn’t come down to that.
My point is that the Titans can’t look at this and say, “the refs cost us the game.” (And I’m not saying they are.) They blew the game with their lousy play.