The New York Jets had a touchdown pass from Geno Smith to Jeremy Kerley snatched away from them on Sunday because some asshat called a timeout before the play. The TD would have tied the Jets at 31 with the Green Bay Packers.
Instead, they ended up losing by seven.
We now know pretty much exactly what happened on the play and it turns out the timeout never should have been granted.
Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg — yes, the same dope who used to coach the Detroit Lions — was wildly signaling timeout from the sideline before the play. Walking right toward one of the refs while doing so, in fact.
Apparently, he was making the signal to head coach Rex Ryan because he saw a problem with the formation on the play. Mornhinweg said that problem was corrected by Smith, but it was too late.
Defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson also noticed Mornhinweg furiously signaling timeout. He admits he pointed this out to one of the refs and that guy blew the whistle.
Technically, neither the offensive coordinator or a player that isn’t in the game can call timeout. Only the head coach or a player on the field can legally call a timeout.
But the timeout was granted, so even though the refs screwed up, too bad.
After the game, some Packers players said they heard the whistle before the play. So while Jets fans can whine and say the play should have been a touchdown — no it shouldn’t have. Not if any Green Bay defenders heard the whistle and then didn’t bother to defend as they normally would have on the play.
What should have happened is the timeout shouldn’t have been granted, but that didn’t happen.
And so it is what it is.
Last updated on December 3rd, 2014 at 09:54 am
Wow this is crazy. It does not matter what the intent of the assistant coach or player was, once the official blows the whistle and makes the motion the ball is dead, the play is over even if the whistle is premature. This happens several plays a year usually on fumble recoveries.
So I guess the next trick will be for teams to have a shitload of players and assistant coaches on the sidelines during a game winning field goal attempt yelling time out and making the motion for time out, then claim only the head coach can call timeout? How the hell is the official to know who is calling the TO. The Jets did not have a TD taken away from them. There never was a play. It was all a mirage after the whistle was blown. The one thing that may come out of all This is the league will probably institute a penalty for anyone on the sideline calling a TO except the head coach.
That’s why you always play the play out, you never know what will happen; in the end you’re only responsible for yourself.
How are refs or line judges supposed to know a voice calling for a timeout is the head coach? One the play is whistled dead that’s it.
Mornhinweg fucked up like he used to and probably still does. Tramon Williams lost a step or two from the playing being called dead, so there are no guarantees that touchdown would have happened if the timeout was not called.
I agree with E. Wolf. The refs EYES are supposed to be towards the field, but his hearing isn’t so limited. How can he know who is calling for the timeout? What if Rex Ryan were screaming for the timeout and the ref lets the play go because he wasn’t sure. He would then have a legitimate complaint. The zebras have a pretty tough job. I just hope the we never have the “pleasure” of drawing the crew that worked the Bears / Niners game Sunday evening. Way too many flags in that one, but they didn’t have a timeout controversy.
Mornhinweg was on the field as well that in itself probably would have drawn a flag.
I would guess that if the refs saw someone on the sidelines other than the head coach trying to call a time out that in and of itself would be some kind of penalty. I’d guess it’s similar to calling a timeout when you don’t have any left. It shouldn’t be the refs job to know who’s who on the sidelines.
The call I still don’t like was the lateral that was ruled an incomplete pass. We’re now trying to guess what the intent of the throw was? It went sideways, not forwards. You can’t argue with where the ball ended up. That, my friends, is a fumble.
When the NFL finally reaches the point where they’re tired of officiating crews fucking up the outcomes of games, they’ll do something about it.
Playoff qualification, seeding, draft order, compensation all hinge on their calls and man they sure get a lot of them wrong – even when they look at ’em in review.
This didn’t change the outcome of the game, and it wasn’t the ref that screwed up. It would be unreasonable to have the ref take his eye off the line and decipher which fat green vested white guy is which when they’re running down the sideline yelling and motioning timeout. And I think the Packers would have marched down and scored next possession anyways – the Packers were unstoppable on offense in the second half.
The backwards pass was horrible though. The whole idea of a forward pass is that it has to go forward. If the defender redirects the trajectory without touching the ball, it shouldn’t be a forwards pass. This rule is interpreted different each time. I still remember brad johnson spiking the ball off his head being called an incomplete pass.
It wasn’t the ref’s fault. They’re trained to keep their eyes on the field and not turn around to see who’s calling TO from the sideline. Either Morningwheg didn’t know the rules about who’s able to call TO, or he was trying to ask Ryan to call TO and Ryan didn’t hear him (but the ref did). Either way, it’s the Jets’ fault.