Steelers vs Chargers Side Judge Suspended!

Looks like the league is gonna start holding officials accountable. The Side Judge is suspended for this weekend for missing that 18sec runoff.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...-suspended-after-steelerschargers-clock-error

 

I read in another article that it's a PAID suspension! Yeah! OUCH that's gonna hurt!

 

Yeah maybe the league is spinning it as a "suspension" when it is actually just what the rest of us call "a day off". LOL.

 

It's probably part of their bargaining agreement. They had to do something to save face.

 

Spin the wheel and see what you've won while on suspension!

 

Plinko and Mountain Climber would be FANTASTIC to watch in your PJ's. LOL! I really wonder if he would have gotten a paid day off if we had LOST because of this? Also couldn't you make the argument that this kinda screwed the Chargers too since they could have gotten the ball back with a few seconds if we had scored earlier? Or you think we would have milked it to the last second? We DO have some clock mgmt issues ya know. LOL!

 

Ugh...I feel like I've explained this several times already. The 2 minute warning hit during a running a play. Had there been an extra 18 sec, it would have run down to 2 mins anyway unless a timeout was called. Besides we could sit here all day coming out with what if's. The butterfly effect would have been in full force.

 

I read somewhere he had to stay in a room like this for 3 hrs

 

Now that's playing hardball. I wonder if they can appeal the 1 game suspension to try to get it extended to 4 games.

 

If it's a suspension, it is most likely for an accumulation rather than just that one error.

If it's with pay that it is according to the contract.

This would knock them out of contention for playoff games and the Super Bowl. That's where it hits the pocket. Plus they are professionals. Pride alone is punishment.

 

To me, the clock operator should receive a heavier punishment. You've got one job; how do you sit there and let 18 seconds bleed out after a kickoff? Kinda odd that there's nothing yet announced for him/her.

 

Most of them are one week employees only. How do you punish someone you only hired to do a job once?

 

Yep. I was going to say much the same thing.

 

The Anthrax version is better.

For this error, you are suspended with full rights to not be suspended for a week.

 

considered that
as well as Wrathchild America cover of Time too
but I didn't want to be too hardcore
if they had missed 7 seconds instead of 18
I would have no choice but to go harcore

 

I was under the impression that they hired a new local guy for every home game (except for the playoffs). Perhaps that's not true, but I thought I heard that or read that recently.

 

I ass-u-med it was a regular position, not a one and done; thanks for clarifying. But why only have it a one week position? I'd think you'd hire one for all home games of a particular stadium to ensure integrity and accountability.

 

Well I could be wrong. TTF thinks otherwise. I did a bit of digging and can't find a definitive answer either way. Maybe TTF has something. I could have sworn I heard/read that just recently. I do know it's a local guy for sure, but maybe it is the same guy

 

Yeah, I had a few minutes and scouted around the net a bit as well. I couldn't find anything definitive either, most just reiterating that the operators indeed come from the local area geographically until the postseason - which itself almost begs the question of whether the NFL suspects the local operators would potentially 'operate' in a biased manner for the home team.

I would still think having one person assigned for the duration of the regular season would be the best way to ensure clock integrity.

 

Maybe with more time on the clock they try to run another play. Maybe with more time on the clock they pass it. The 18 seconds changed the situation.

 

Actually glad this "18 second" thread has morphed into a 4 day thread cause it caused me to sit down last night and re-watch these clock issues/questions in super slo mo to see what was really going on, all this in spite of knowing we won in walk off fashion and the issue that the 2 minute warning might have offset all this:

1. As SD was lining up for the notorious "lost 18 second" KO - the 25 second play clock (not game clock) had run down to 8 seconds and the side line judge/ref was waving his arms and running on the field as if to stop the play, the announcer mentioned it briefly and the camera cut also to Dri Archer waving his arms and walking forward as if something was wrong. Just then the kickoff was made (no stoppage of play or game clock movement yet) as the play clock returned to 25, the ref running on the field was almost plowed down by the SD sideline gunner and the ball sailed out of end zone to the right of Archer. The play was blown dead (no commercial break) and it was then that the game clock started running down from 2:56 to 2:38 and then mysteriously stopped at 2:38 as the Steelers were huddling. Game clock resumed when the ball was snapped. Not sure when the play clock is supposed to start after kickoffs when there is no commercial break or officials time out but it's possible that the clocker du jour simply hit the wrong button - the game clock instead of the play clock that caused the snafu. Even stranger then is why did it bother to stop at 2:38 unless either the clocker or a ref caught it and signaled to have it stopped and then why wasn't a whistle blown and time restored? These questions my friends will get you suspended for a week WITH pay.

2. The penalty at the end on Heath physically occurred at the 8 sec mark even though it took the ref another 3 seconds to pull his hankie and find his whistle. Shouldn't the game clock be reset to the moment of infraction and not when the hankie/whistle thing happens? I swear I've seen hundreds of times the refs call out "Please reset the game clock to ____" after penalties. If the NBA can get the timing down to hundredths of seconds why can't the NFL get it down to the full second?

3. While it seemed like an eternity, Bells TD only took 3 seconds as the sideline gal ref seemed to have her arms up at the 2 second mark. If she had hesitated on her call and time ran off then the play would have still been determined by replay either way. Also if she signaled TD at the 2 second mark why did the clock run down to zero? Not sure a ref would have acknowledged a timeout if the Steelers had try to call one but there were 2 seconds remaining when Bell reached across the goal line. We'll never know it don't matter at all. Also Bell's lucky he didn't suffer a ruptured organ somewhere as DeCastro fell right on top of him with his full weight as the game ended. Whew. What a finale for a rather sucky game.