The game officials? The Steelers? The person who has his finger on the button and is assigned to turn it on and off?
UPDATE: NFL admits it made mistake, investigating clock runoff
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No one noticed the 18 seconds that disappeared just as the Steelers commenced their game-winning drive in a 24-20 road victory over the Chargers, which ended on Le’Veon Bell’s too-close-for-comfort 1-yard touchdown run as time expired.
The NFL declined to comment about that 18-second gap, according to Kevin Seifert of ESPN.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s reaction, when informed of the clock error: “I wasn’t aware of that, no … it didn’t change the outcome of the game.”
Rookie kicker Josh Lambo gave the Chargers a 20-17 lead with 2:59 left when he nailed a 54-yard field goal, his second of the game. He then kicked off, deep enough that it was not returned. When the touchback was signaled, 2:56 was on the clock.
But when Michael Vick lined up to take the first snap of Pittsburgh’s final drive, the clock read: 2:38. So after Vick completed passes to Darrius Heyward-Bey for 9 and 15 yards, and after Vick had scrambled — vintage Vick-style — up the middle for 24 yards, and after he’d found tight end Heath Miller just short of the goal line for 16 yards, and after a roughness penalty moved the ball within a half-yard of the goal line, only 5 seconds remained.
Pittsburgh ran Bell out of the Wildcat formation, and he chewed up all of the remaining 5 seconds in getting the ball just over the goal line before his knee hit the turf. It was an actual buzzer-beating touchdown, something we rarely see in the NFL. But it shouldn’t have happened here, either.
