In what was one way or the other not the strangest ending to a Thanksgiving weekend NFL recreation, the Kansas City Chiefs survived a Black Friday scare in opposition to the division rival Las Vegas Raiders due to a mix of weird recreation administration and a maybe much more weird penalty ruling.
With simply 15 seconds remaining within the fourth quarter, the Raiders spiked the ball on second down on the Chiefs’ 32-yard line. On the next play, heart Jackson Powers-Johnson snapped the ball earlier than heart Aidan O’Connell was prepared for it, the ball hit the bottom and the Chiefs recovered it.
After the ball was recovered, it looks like the play had the truth is been blown useless as a consequence of a false-start penalty. But after the officers conferred for some time, that penalty was as a substitute modified to an unlawful shift, which the Chiefs declined. They stored the ball and kneeled on it to finish the sport, moderately than having to defend one other snap after a false begin, which might have erased the fumble as a result of it is a pre-snap penalty.
After the sport, the NFL defined why the play was dominated that approach.
“Had the clock been operating on the snap, then by rule an unlawful shift would convert to a false begin,” a league spokesman mentioned, through The Athletic. “Since the clock was stopped (spike on the second-down play), an unlawful shift is a dwell ball foul.”
Surely, that rationalization will fulfill all of the conspiracy theorists who’re satisfied that the league simply presents calls (and wins) to the Chiefs, so there’s nothing extra to fret about on that entrance.
