Brees no erro oficiante da semana 1: 'Isso não pode acontecer'

The NFL encountered another officiating flub in the Superdome. At least this time theNew Orleans Saintswon the game.

NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron admitted afterMonday night’s 30-28 winover theHouston Texansthat a time accounting error cost theSaints15 seconds at the end of the first half.

With theSaintstrailing 14-3,Drew Breesdrove New Orleans near midfield with a third-down pass toMichael Thomasthat originally was ruled a half-yard shy of a first down with 41 seconds remaining in the second quarter. With Thomas ruled in bounds, theSaintsrushed to the line to get a fourth-down play off quickly. Refs stopped the game, however, and decided to review the play.

Replay correctly determined that Thomas gained the necessary yardage for the first down. However, because the clock was running, by rule the review required a 10-second runoff — Sean Payton declined to use his final timeout to save the 10 seconds. That’s where the mistake was made.

When restarting the play, officials deducted the time from 26 seconds (what the clock read when the review was initiated) instead of 41 seconds, stripping theSaintsof 15 seconds.

“The play ended at 41 seconds when we ruled him down,” Riveron toldpool reporter Larry Holder after the game. “Then we stopped the game for a replay review. After we did our administrative duties, we should have reset the clock to 41 seconds because that’s when we blew the play dead. At that time, we should have gone to coach Payton and asked him if he wanted to take a timeout in lieu of a 10-second runoff. Instead of setting the clock to 41, we inadvertently set it to 26 and then had a 10-second runoff because he did not want to take the timeout.”

After two more plays, kickerWil Lutzmissed a 56-yard attempt that would have cut the lead to eight before halftime.

Following last year’s disastrous ending for theSaintswith the refs missing a blatant pass interference call, which led to a rule change, it was déjà vu for a fan base whose wounds were still open.

“I still don’t know what the deal was,” quarterbackDrew Breessaid after the game,via Katherine Terrell of The Athletic. “Someone came up to me in the locker room and acknowledged that a mistake was made, that 10 seconds should not have run off but they should’ve had 31 seconds left. Instead, we only had 16. So, listen, that can’t happen. I mean, that’s a game-changer, right? We had to kick a 58-yard field goal or whatever it was. … If we had 15 more seconds, are you kidding me? We’re going to get closer. That’s a game-changer. That can’t happen.”

With Brees leading a ferocious comeback win in the final minute of the fourth quarter to set-up a Lutz 58-yarder for the walk-off victory, the league avoided another massive controversy in the Bayou.

This time getting the win, theSaintswere able to process the admitted officiating error with more ease than one that cost them a potentialSuper Bowltrip eight months ago.

“It wouldn’t be the first time they messed up a call,” linebackerDemario Davissaid. “It’s Week 1 for everybody.”

Thankfully, Lutz saved the country from another officiating mishap that could have overshadowed the best game of Week 1.