NBC rules analyst calls out referee mistake

Thursday’s season-opening matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens featured a very clear mistake from the officiating crew that NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay was quick to jump all over on the broadcast.

Near the end of the second quarter, the Ravens were in prime territory to potentially take the lead heading into the second half, finding themselves near the goal line with just nine seconds remaining in the half.

The Ravens flirted with the idea of sending out the field goal unit and taking the points. However, they decided against it at the last minute, bringing the offense back onto the field.

This confused the Chiefs’ defense, who clearly didn’t have the right personnel on the field. This led to coaches on the sideline, specifically defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, running down the sideline frantically to try and get a timeout granted to get the right players on the field.

They were ultimately granted the timeout. But the only problem is that assistant coaches actually aren’t allowed to call timeouts, which was relayed by McAulay as the NBC broadcast booth discussed the situation.

“He can’t do that. It has to be the head coach that comes down. The assistant coach — nobody else can call timeout on the sidelines except the head coach.”

As Mike Tirico later alluded to, the official that Spagnuolo was running to actually wasn’t the one who granted Spagnuolo’s timeout request. It was an official in the back corner of the endzone who granted the timeout.

So he seemingly either assumed it was Reid running down the sidelines trying to get the timeout call or simply forgot the rule that states that an assistant coach can not call a timeout.

Either way, the timeout call did end up being somewhat consequential. The Chiefs would end up holding the Ravens to a field goal after an incomplete pass from the Ravens on the next play, making it a 13-10 Chiefs lead heading into the second half.

Obviously, nobody will ever know what would have happened had the timeout not been granted. But considering the Chiefs clearly didn’t have the right players on the field, the Ravens may have had a good chance of scoring on the play.

Regardless, McAulay and the rest of the NBC broadcast crew were very quick to catch on to the referee’s mistake here, which could end up being significant in the end result.

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