Raiders coach Antonio Pierce primarily has himself to blame for mismanagement of the final seconds of Friday’s game against the Chiefs. That doesn’t exonerate the NFL, however, for potential mismanagement of the officiating of the play that led to the game-sealing fumble.
Pierce said Saturday that the Las Vegas sideline heard a whistle killing the play, based apparently on the mistaken conclusion by at least one member of the crew that the Raiders had committed a false start, not an illegal shift, before the snap.
NFL in-house rules analyst Walt Anderson appeared on the NFL in-house media outlet on Sunday to address the situation. But he only addressed part of it.
Anderson explained that, because the clock was stopped at the time of the foul, the Raiders committed an illegal shift and not a false start. (By rule, an illegal shift on a running clock after the two-minute warning of either half becomes a false start, with a 10-second runoff.)
Anderson is absolutely right about that part. But he completely ignored the more problematic aspect of the situation, from an officiating standpoint.
An official at the top of the screen clearly runs toward the middle of the field, signaling time out and then signaling false start BEFORE the ball is recovered. And whistles can plainly be heard as the chaos is beginning to unfold, following the inadvertent snap.
By rule, an erroneous whistle kills the play.
That said, the replay rules allow for possession to be awarded to the defense if the video evidence shows that “possession was lost before the ball should have been ruled dead.” Under that scenario, “possession may be awarded to a player who clearly recovers a loose ball in the immediate continuing action.”
Unfortunately, Anderson didn’t address any of this. Not the erroneous whistle. And not the portion of the rulebook that would possibly allow, following an erroneous whistle, possession to change via visual evidence of a clear recovery by the Chiefs.
Even if the officials ultimately got it correct, situations like this mandate a correct — and complete — explanation. The officials did not do that during the game. Anderson did not do that on Sunday. And that will serve only to make more fans think the fix is in for the Chiefs.
It’s not. But that doesn’t matter. People think it is. And Anderson’s explanation of the most critical moment in Friday’s game will only fuel that misperception.