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Did The Washington Redskins Get Five Downs On Their Game-Ending Touchdown?

by Mike Prada • Dec 13, 2010 10:24 AM EST

When we first think of the Washington Redskins' 17-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, the first thing we'll think about is the botched extra point snap that prevented the Redskins from tying the game. But there's a legitimate argument that the play that led to that botched snap -- Santana Moss' touchdown on fourth down -- should never have happened?

Why? The FOX cameras showed that the Redskins may have gotten two chances at fourth down. You can see the video, with the confused FOX announcers, here. The telestrator clearly marked the previous play - an incompletion to Fred Davis - as something that happened on fourth down. So what happened? Why the confusion?

The explanation, whether you buy it or not, is below the jump:

The confusion stems from what happened on a play a few plays earlier. The Redskins had a first and 10 at the Buccaneers 12-yard line. Donovan McNabb threw a pass in the flat to Anthony Armstrong, who fought to get to the first-down marker at the two-yard line. Did he get there? This screenshot by NFL Spin Zone suggests he didn't.

It looks like the first-down marker was placed at the three-yard line instead of the two-yard line, for some reason. However, the FOX first-down line was at the two-yard line, as you can clearly see here. FOX assumed that it was second down and 1 from the three-yard line, when it was really first and 10 from what I guess is the two-yard line.

That explains how the next four plays make sense:

Donovan McNabb incomplete pass to Roydell Williams.
Ryan Torain -4-yard run.
Donovan McNabb incomplete pass to Fred Davis.
Donovan McNabb six-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss.

So how exactly do the referees explain why the first-down chain was at the three-yard line instead of the two-yard line. Here's their official explanation:

"The first pass that was made, the initial ruling was first down to the 2-1/2 yard line, and the auxiliary box on the other side did not turn over. It was showing second down. The primary box on the head linesman side, which is the main down box, had first down. So we corrected the 2 because it hung up there for a while, and we corrected it to 1."

But if you look at that screenshot above, the line of scrimmage was the 12-yard line, and the first-down marker was clearly on the three-yard line. So all this stuff about the first down coming on the 2 1/2-yard line doesn't really make sense.

Not that it mattered in the end, but in a game where the Redskins got screwed by a botched holding call, they also appeared to get lucky thanks to a referee's gaffe.

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Comments

your completely right, but even with the line being off on tv armstrong still did not get the first down. therefore, they did get 5 downs

by eaglesinmd on Dec 13, 2010 12:27 PM EST reply actions

The blue line for the line of scrimmage was inaccurate!

The markers on the far side of the field were not the chains! There’s only one set of chains on the field and they were on the short side of the field or on the redskins side! Those are the official markers! The far side of the field is the first down marker (the orange marker) is the spot to gain for a first down but its relative to the other side of the field were the chains are and that goes for the down marker as well! The down marker is were the ball is spotted! The play earlier moss was tackled around the 12 yrd line and also the announcer said he was down at the 12 but if you look at the ref that is spotting the ball on the short side of the field were he was tackled at he was spotting him in between the 13 and the 12! As you can look at the down marker on the far side of the field and were rabach was snapping the ball they were about a half yard short of the 12! The blue line that fox uses was inaccurate on this play! The blue line was about a half yard ahead of the line of scrimmage! Therefore u cannot come to any type of conclusion from that picture because those were not the official markers and you do not have a shot of were the ball was snapped at!

by ST21BESTEVER on Dec 15, 2010 4:54 PM EST reply actions

One thing i do question thou!

If the spot to gain was about the 2.5 yard line and armstrong was spotted rite around there, why wasnt there a measurement? The was a time out after the play and at no time did they show a measurement or did the announcers say their was a measurement! The showed the redskins walking up to the line of scrimmage after the timeout but the camera was on the bucs side so you could see the chain crew dropping the chains meaning that its first and goal and there is no use for the chains! Then when it went back to the regular view you can clearly see the down marker say 1st down! Still doesnt make sense to me because a first down in that situation was critical and at no point did the refs make it clear to anybody that it was a first down.

by ST21BESTEVER on Dec 15, 2010 5:00 PM EST reply actions