What are your thoughts on the so called re-do play where it looks like the field judge? comes running in just before the snap to try and kill the clock?
Although ugly, it was necessary to prevent a serious clock error.
The previous 2nd down ended with an incomplete pass. With the play clock correctly running, the ball was spotted, and the teams were preparing to play 3rd down. However, the ball had been incorrectly spotted, so the crew stepped in and re-spotted the ball to the correct location. The play clock was set to 10 seconds (which, I think is an NFL rule thing, but I’m not sure). The R announced the game clock and play clock settings, and incorrectly indicated that both would start on his signal, which they did. The teams were preparing to return to play, when the F recognized the error, and jumped into the field and signaled for the clock to stop before the ball was snapped, so, officially, there was no play - not a “re-do.” Unfortunately, the ball was snapped and there appeared to be a play run, but the F’s timeout signal officially stopped all action. I wish he had continued his charging signal all the way to the neutral zone, if necessary, to get the action stopped. What appeared to be
a ‘sack’ by Cincy a pass caught well short of the line-to-gain never happened, officially.
[Sorry, got my downs mixed up. The apparent sack happened on the actual 3rd down, where the defensive holding occured, giving KC the first down.]They corrected the game clock by restoring it to the time it was stopped for the incomplete pass on the previous down, re-set the play clock to 10 seconds, and then announced the correction. Then the ball was declared ready for play, and 3rd down was played.
As is official’s luck, Cincy committed holding on this down, awarding KC a first down.
Yes, ugly, but necessary.
