Many Cincinnati Bengals fans likely are in agreement with former Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason in his assessment of a call officials didn't make at the end of the Baltimore Ravens' improbable win against the Detroit Lions.
Justin Tucker's record-breaking, 66-yard field goal gave the Ravens their second win of the season, joining the Bengals and Cleveland Browns among 2-1 AFC North teams. But Esiason argued after the Ravens' finish on CBS that officials should have called a delay-of-game penalty one play earlier against the Ravens before Tucker's kick attempt.
"That should be delay of the game. I'm sorry. Right? If we're going by the clock," Esiason said on CBS. "That's delay of game. Guys, I'm sorry. That's delay of game. I don't want to take anything away from Justin Tucker. I don't want to take anything away from Lamar Jackson, who made that amazing throw at the end of the game to get them to that point. But to me ... You can clearly see that is longer than the one-second lull that (Bill Cowher) is talking about. To me, this looks like this flag should've been thrown. It should've been delay of game. It should've been five yards against the Baltimore Ravens. And therefore they would've had to run another offensive play. Or the game would've been over."
"The back judge will be looking at that play clock and taking his eyes from the clock back down to the ball. When he sees zero on the play clock, he will move his head directly down to the football," NFL on CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore explained. "That snap needs to occur right at that time. So is there an extra second built in there? Yeah there is, just because of the human element of play clock down to snap. That's for sure. It does feel like that's a little longer than your normal progression from a zero on the clock back down. ... (As back judge) I am on that play clock. As that play clock starts to wind down, that's my primary job now as we're counting down from five (seconds) in. ... When I look back down, that ball needs to be moving. ... (What happened on the play in question) feels to me like it's longer than the normal progression of giving that offense that extra fraction of a second or full second."
Steratore added that the back judge must be positioned to be able to see the ball snapped.
Phil Simms asked Steratore if an official might be more hesitant to call the delay-of-game penalty because it's near the end of a close game.
"You don't even have that thought (as an official). ... We don't do that. Listen, that play happens with 12 minutes left in the first quarter. That play happens with one second left in the game. That play is that play. We don't go to all that good, juicy stuff. ... The bottom line is this is what they get paid to do as well, right? What we're doing right now is dissecting a fraction of a second. Whether that was a little longer than normal - it feels like it in our opinion - but that's up for discussion."
"Go into that Detroit locker room and talk to (Lions head coach) Dan Campbell and those Detroit Lion players. That's all I've got to say," Esiason replied.
"Tomorrow, you'll get an apology, and it doesn't mean anything," Campbell said afterward.
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