Question about the final play

[gherkinjuice]

On the very last play of the Jags game, Matt Jones caught the pass and tried to lateral it to someone else. The play was reviewed and eventually called an illegal forward pass but the clock was stopped with 3 seconds left to review the play. As they were reviewing it, I was thinking, 'what does it matter? they don't have any timeouts and he's down in-bounds'. But what would have happened if the review had been called legal? the play went to official review (under 2:00) and then, if it was considered down by contact, would the Jags have been able to line up with 3 seconds on the clock still?

[flomoe]

If it was a legal play, didn't Greer recover the fumble anyway? Or was that after the guy was ruled down? Good question but I think the time would have run off the clock because it was reviewed with no time showing IIRC.

[Chandler#81]

On the very last play of the Jags game, Matt Jones caught the pass and tried to lateral it to someone else. The play was reviewed and eventually called an illegal forward pass but the clock was stopped with 3 seconds left to review the play. As they were reviewing it, I was thinking, 'what does it matter? they don't have any timeouts and he's down in-bounds'. But what would have happened if the review had been called legal? the play went to official review (under 2:00) and then, if it was considered down by contact, would the Jags have been able to line up with 3 seconds on the clock still?

 

2 things, as I understand it. Were it a legal lateral, the final runner fumbled and the Bills recovered. Kneel down/victory play would have followed. Second, any offensive penalty in the final minute (I believe) constitutes a run off of around 10 seconds as an additional penalty. This was the case and game was over.

[UnionAMG]

I was thinking the same thing... it seems that in a situation like this, if the review had determined that a man was downed inbounds and the clock should have continued to run, they should take 5 or 10 seconds off the clock as they do for some penalties with under 2min left.

 

However, I dont think there is a rule like that. So say they would have ruled the Jones lateral legal, and then the next JAX player down by contact with 3 sec left. They could have lined up and spiked the ball as soon as the ref placed it after the review. Seems like that could be a tough situation for a team down the road at some point. Because a reviewed play shouldn't lead to the offense getting an extra play, when if they didnt review it the clock would have ran out.

 

Did that make sense?

[gherkinjuice]

I was thinking the same thing... it seems that in a situation like this, if the review had determined that a man was downed inbounds and the clock should have continued to run, they should take 5 or 10 seconds off the clock as they do for some penalties with under 2min left.

 

However, I dont think there is a rule like that. So say they would have ruled the Jones lateral legal, and then the next JAX player down by contact with 3 sec left. They could have lined up and spiked the ball as soon as the ref placed it after the review. Seems like that could be a tough situation for a team down the road at some point. Because a reviewed play shouldn't lead to the offense getting an extra play, when if they didnt review it the clock would have ran out.

 

Did that make sense?

 

Yup, I gotcha.

 

Yeah, my question was if the call had gone entirely J-ville's way, meaning legal lateral and they recovered. But man that would've been brutal if they got to call another play!

[shrader]

The clock would be started the second the ball is placed, right? With 3 seconds, it has to be pretty tough to get the right number of people on the field all lined up properly even to spike the ball. How likely would it be for there to be even one second remaining when they spike it?

[ricojes]

On the very last play of the Jags game, Matt Jones caught the pass and tried to lateral it to someone else. The play was reviewed and eventually called an illegal forward pass but the clock was stopped with 3 seconds left to review the play. As they were reviewing it, I was thinking, 'what does it matter? they don't have any timeouts and he's down in-bounds'. But what would have happened if the review had been called legal? the play went to official review (under 2:00) and then, if it was considered down by contact, would the Jags have been able to line up with 3 seconds on the clock still?

I was thinking the same thing, because I though we were going to get screwed. If MJD had not fumbled the clock surely would have expired. Since they reviewed the fumble to clock stopped with 3 seconds remaining. If the call would have went the Jags way, they would not have re-started the clock until the ball was spotted, meaning the Jags would have had one more play.

 

Speaking of clock management, here's a curious observation I made during the Jests/patsie game. With the time well under a minute and NE with the ball and the lead, NE had a false start penalty. The ref enforced the penalty and ran an additional 10 seconds off the clock because of the penalty under 2 minutes. Now this didn't matter, because the game was out of reach, but wouldn't it benefit an offense with the ball and the lead to take a penalty and have an additional 10 seconds run off the clock? I guess the D could refuse the penalty. I just found it odd and I don't think it was the way this rule was intended....

 

The clock would be started the second the ball is placed, right? With 3 seconds, it has to be pretty tough to get the right number of people on the field all lined up properly even to spike the ball. How likely would it be for there to be even one second remaining when they spike it?

Wouldn't they already be lined up waiting for the ref to spot the ball?

[UnionAMG]

I was thinking the same thing, because I though we were going to get screwed. If MJD had not fumbled the clock surely would have expired. Since they reviewed the fumble to clock stopped with 3 seconds remaining. If the call would have went the Jags way, they would not have re-started the clock until the ball was spotted, meaning the Jags would have had one more play.

 

Speaking of clock management, here's a curious observation I made during the Jests/patsie game. With the time well under a minute and NE with the ball and the lead, NE had a false start penalty. The ref enforced the penalty and ran an additional 10 seconds off the clock because of the penalty under 2 minutes. Now this didn't matter, because the game was out of reach, but wouldn't it benefit an offense with the ball and the lead to take a penalty and have an additional 10 seconds run off the clock? I guess the D could refuse the penalty. I just found it odd and I don't think it was the way this rule was intended....

 

 

Wouldn't they already be lined up waiting for the ref to spot the ball?

 

Right... in that situation it is possible for the offense to benefit from the time run-off. And I believe that rule is intended to run off 10 sec if the offense false starts when it is driving and trying to score with teh time running out. Just goes to show how complicated this game has become. Sometimes it really makes me wonder how it has become so popular and how casual fans can even stand it.

[CJPearl2]

I love how we, as Bills fans, always plan for the worst.

 

(I was thinking the same thing)

[ricojes]

I love how we, as Bills fans, always plan for the worst.

 

(I was thinking the same thing)

Did anyone else say "that's something that would happen to the Bills", when watching the Denver/SD game? Sad, but so true....