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DaKCMan AP
09-26-2005, 04:18 PM
Clock error added 52 seconds to Steelers-Pats game

Tom Brady, among the league's best in late-game drives, led the Patriots down field for the winning score against the Steelers in 1:21 on Sunday.

But could he have done it in 29 seconds?

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported Monday that an error was made by the clock operator and officiating crew in the Steelers-Patriots game that resuletd in 52 seconds being added to the game clock.

The NFL confirmed that at the error occured at the beginning of the fourth quarter. With 14:51 remaining, Steelers receiver Cedric Wilson ran a reverse and was held to no gain; the play ran the clock down to 13:59.

A false start was called on Steelers guard Kendall Simmons on the next play, but instead of resetting the clock to 13:59, the clock operator set it back to 14:51 -- the time before Wilson's running play began. No one noticed the error, including the officiating crew.

Mike Pereira, the NFL's senior director of officiating, spoke to coaches Bill Cowher and Bill Belichick about the error on Monday.

With those extra 52 seconds in place, the Steelers rallied to tie the game 20-20 on Ben Roethlisberger's 4-yard TD pass to Hines Ward with 1:21 remaining.

But that was enough time for Brady to lead the Patriots into position for Adam Vinateri, the league's best clutch kicker, to make a 43-yard field goal with one second remaining to beat the Steelers 23-20 at Hines Field.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2173143

Bob Dole
09-26-2005, 04:21 PM
Wow. What a major ****up.

carlos3652
09-26-2005, 04:22 PM
Steelers got hosed...

KChiefsQT
09-26-2005, 04:22 PM
yikes.... that's no good.

ArrowheadHawk
09-26-2005, 04:22 PM
damn refs screwing up the game even with replay

dirk digler
09-26-2005, 04:22 PM
Sorry dakcman.

dirk digler
09-26-2005, 04:26 PM
Sometimes it is better to be more lucky than good. The Pats have some incredible luck during their run.

Bowser
09-26-2005, 04:28 PM
Why again did Cowher and his staff not realize this?

Eleazar
09-26-2005, 04:28 PM
Great, something else for Steeler fans to whine about.

KChiefsQT
09-26-2005, 04:28 PM
they better not pull any shit like this tonight!!!!!

chiefs4me
09-26-2005, 04:29 PM
I knew I was freaking robbed....:banghead: heads are gonna roll, someone give me espn's phone number...I need to make a call.....:cuss:

BIG_DADDY
09-26-2005, 04:30 PM
I can't believe the things that have gone the pats way.

KChiefsQT
09-26-2005, 04:30 PM
Buttt If Randel El didn't try to make a bigger play than he already had and lateral the ball to Ward than the steelers could have stole the game anyways... so their fault and the staffs fault for not catching on to this big "ooopssey".

DaKCMan AP
09-26-2005, 04:32 PM
The Steelers really can't complain too much. It was THEIR clock operator who made the error. Although, it is the zebras responsibility to catch the error, which they did not.

Boozer
09-26-2005, 04:38 PM
The Steelers can't complain. They should have had someone on the staff watching the clock like a hawk. I know several college teams do this, I bet the pros do, too.

ArrowheadHawk
09-26-2005, 04:41 PM
i really feel sorry for big ben lost his first regular season game .................NOT

Deberg_1990
09-26-2005, 04:43 PM
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! Id be screamin my lunngs out to the league office if i was Cowher!

Bob Dole
09-26-2005, 04:50 PM
Something is fishy.

Bob Dole is pretty sure that the officials also keep time on the field.

Eleazar
09-26-2005, 04:52 PM
Something is fishy.

Bob Dole is pretty sure that the officials also keep time on the field.

Official time IS kept on the field, isn't it?

I was under the impression that the game clock on the scoreboard is merely a courtesy for fans.

ArrowheadHawk
09-26-2005, 04:54 PM
Official time IS kept on the field, isn't it?

I was under the impression that the game clock on the scoreboard is merely a courtesy for fans.
:hmmm:

Bob Dole
09-26-2005, 04:55 PM
Official time IS kept on the field, isn't it?

I was under the impression that the game clock on the scoreboard is merely a courtesy for fans.

That's what is fishy.

Common sense would tell you that TWO people are responsible for keeping the official time to avoid stupid ****ups just like this.

andoman
09-26-2005, 04:57 PM
Losing 50 seconds at the beginning of the quarter is meaningless anyway.

HolmeZz
09-26-2005, 04:59 PM
Can't blame that for a loss. The clock management of both teams would've played out differently down the stretch.

Bob Dole
09-26-2005, 05:00 PM
Losing 50 seconds at the beginning of the quarter is meaningless anyway.

Actually, losing 50 seconds at any point is completely unacceptable.

One could certainly argue that it did not necessarily impact the outcome, but it does not make it acceptable.

Earthling
09-26-2005, 05:00 PM
I thought the game seemed excessively long...

Skip Towne
09-26-2005, 05:01 PM
So the clock actually expired during the Pats drive!!!!! Yeah, STEELERS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

SCChief
09-26-2005, 05:05 PM
The Pats catch all the breaks.

If the league wants to make it up to the Steelers, they should allow the Steelers to run 52 seconds off the clock at any point in any game in the future.

ROFL!

Seriously though... that time may have meant the game went to OT, but doesn't guarantee a different outcome in the game.

andoman
09-26-2005, 05:05 PM
Actually, losing 50 seconds at any point is completely unacceptable.

One could certainly argue that it did not necessarily impact the outcome, but it does not make it acceptable.

Not acceptable, no, but meaningless all the same. Neither team was playing the clock at that point.

C-Mac
09-26-2005, 05:16 PM
Something is fishy.

Bob Dole is pretty sure that the officials also keep time on the field.

runnercyclist
09-26-2005, 05:19 PM
Losing 50 seconds at the beginning of the quarter is meaningless anyway.


Precisely. However, living in hell, I mean Pittsburgh, that won't stop the whining Stiller fans from bitching for two solid weeks now about how they were robbed by the clock bitch, instead of being beaten by a battered Pats team.

cosmo20002
09-26-2005, 05:29 PM
Obviously a screw-up, but its misleading to say "But could Brady have done it in 29 seconds?"

The time was lost early in the quarter. To say Brady would have had only had 29 second is to assume EVERYTHING else would have gone exactly as it did. Who knows how things would have played out, especially as the game got closer to 2 minutes. Different plays might have been called, timeouts might have been used differently. I think its irrelevant.

Bob Dole
09-26-2005, 05:49 PM
Mort just reported that the line judge who is in charge of clock oversight will not be fined, but the error may show up in his grading, which would affect his postseason officiating opportunity.

Wow. That seems appropriate.

Frazod
09-26-2005, 06:04 PM
I'd be a lot more inclined to smell a rat on this had the game been played in New England. It wasn't.

Had the game gone differently, it could have been the Pats that were screwed.

I'd sure be pissed if I was a Stellas fan, though. But of course, I'd be pissed anyway, because they played like slattered shit yesterday.

StcChief
09-26-2005, 06:47 PM
Spend some money on good technology. To help take the human element and chance for error out.
Was the time backuped up two play stops? That sounds preventable. as an unusual event.