A mistake by the NFL referees last Sunday cost the Baltimore Ravens the game and gave the Jacksonville Jaguars the win by allowing the team to kick the winning field goal. The issue is that the field goal unit should have never even came on the field though.
On Monday, NFL.com noted that league spokesperson Michael Signora confirmed that the officiating crew should have actually flagged the Jags for a false start penalty. That then would have resulted in a 10-second runoff of the clock and time would have expired with a score of the Ravens 20, Jacksonville 19.
"Inside of one minute remaining of either half, with the game clock running, when the offense is not set simultaneously prior to the snap, it's a false start. This results in a 10-second runoff, which can only be avoided if a team has a timeout remaining," Signora said. "The correct call in this case would have been to penalize the offense for a false start because all 11 players were not set and whistle to stop the play. The ensuing 10-second runoff should have ended the game."
After admitting the mistake, many have been calling for those referees to be suspended and the league to give the Ravens the win. Well the former is reportedly not happening.
As ESPN reported, sources with knowledge to the situation said the NFL does not plan on suspending those officials.
This season in particular the officiating around the league has been terrible and it was only a matter of time before it cost a team a game. Mistakes do happen, but with all the technology at the NFL’s disposal errors of this magnitude at least should not.