If you missed the game (and I only heard it on radio), here’s the situation. There’s about 15 seconds left in the game and Tampa completes a pass to the 50 yard line. They are down by one point and need to get into field goal range to win, that means the 32 yard line or so. They hurry everyone up to the line of scrimmage and Tampa quarterback Brad Johnson takes the snap. He allegedly spikes it into the ground to kill the clock with nine seconds left, but the ball is picked up by Green Bay anyway (never can be too sure, you know). Suddenly there is a flag on the play. Tampa is called for illegal something or other (maybe illegal receiver since they thought it hit an offensive linesman’s helmet) but that is REVERSED by the instant replay referee. Instead, it is ruled a fumble and Green Bay recovers.
But wait, the whistle blew between the actual fumble and the recovery, so Tampa Bay holds on to the football. Worse, even if Tampa had recovered, the clock should have kept running, resulting in the end of the game. Instead, the clock had been stopped by the ref’s and Tampa got two more shots at the end zone. Both failed.
My question (finally): is there any precedent for a team electing to take a knee in that situation and concede that the refs screwed up? Now THAT would be pure class (and probably lead to a short coaching career). But still, are there any precedents?
Nah, I think you’re right, although both options were pretty slim.
I’m glad they didn’t let the little brat go for it. I can’t stand Gramatica, so I was happy to see him have a tizzy fit that wasn’t rewarded. So there!
I think most coaches view referees’ mistakes that benefit their team as being balanced out over the long run by mistakes that hurt their team. Instructing your team to lose a game to correct a ref’s mistakes might be viewed as classy, but coaches are hired and fired based on winning records, not class. Imagine saying to the team’s owners, fans, and players at the end of the season, “Well, we missed the playoffs by one game, and we got screwed by the officials on a number of occasions throughout the season, but we did the right thing.” He’d be viewed as an idiot, not as someone with moral courage.
To look at another sport, imagine a baseball manager sees that a called 4th ball on one of his players was clearly a strike. No way in the world would he tell his next batter to intentionally strike out in order to “set things right”.
