After decades of seeing the Centers move the ball up, at least a foot, pre-snap it's about time we see one defender move it back lol

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Saw this too. Freaking great! So casual and slick too. I don't think 49ers noticed.

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Veteran move or cheating?
(Article in Link Below)

I believe before half, with no time outs and little time remaining, the WFT was in FG range when the Steelers sacked QB Alex Smith.

In theory, there wasn't enough time for the FG unit to get onto the field to kick the FG... but there was a problem with the Refs where they had to stop the clock despite the sack.

They had no ball! Alex Smith either instinctly or veteran move wiseness took the ball off with him after being sacked. This means the Refs had to stop the game clock to get a ball on the field.

While there shouldn't of been enough time to get the FG unit out there. With the additional Ref time out, they were able to get the kicking time out there with lots of time and had 8 second to kick a FG.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/savvy-clock-move-by-alex-smith-confuses-refs-appears-to-earn-washington-3-points-002656807.htmlhttps://www.yahoo.com/sports/savvy-clock-move-by-alex-smith-confuses-refs-appears-to-earn-washington-3-points-002656807.html 

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Wouldn’t that be considered delay of game taking the ball off the field?
Should have been a penalty, and the one second run off.
At least that’s what I thought.
Not that I really cared either way.
Just trying to point that out.

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Wouldn’t that be considered delay of game taking the ball off the field?
Should have been a penalty, and the one second run off.
At least that’s what I thought.
Not that I really cared either way.
Just trying to point that out.

If they thought you did it on purpose, absolutely!

But what if they think you did it accidentally? Especially since when there is more time, the normal ball comes off the field and the "k" (kicking) ball comes on the field...

So in theory, that's just normal, where someone takes the normal ball off the field for a kicking play. It's just the rare time when they're trying to rush it and so the "k" ball stays on the sidelines, but the player can play dumb (and it might of been purely accidentally).

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Well looks like I was mistaken...

Not a good veteran move after all but a reffing error. According to this, the refs should have kept the clock running, even with no ball on the field, while they waited for another ball to come out.

And Smith says he did it on accident.

Stopping the clock to benefit Washington was a mistake. As noted by former NFL referee and NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay, when the offense’s actions cause a delay in getting the ball spotted, the officials are not supposed to stop the clock. In this case, it was clear that Smith’s action of taking the ball with him to the sideline caused the delay, and so the officials should have let the clock run while they got a K-ball to spot for the field goal attempt. The umpire, who signaled to the clock operator to stop the clock, should not have done that.

Smith said after the game, “It was not intentional.” But intentional or not, Smith’s move gave the Football Team an advantage it shouldn’t have had, and was a key contributor to Washington’s comeback win.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/12/08/officials-erred-by-giving-washington-extra-time-for-field-goal-before-halftime/ 

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Well looks like I was mistaken...

Not a good veteran move after all but a reffing error. According to this, the refs should have kept the clock running, even with no ball on the field, while they waited for another ball to come out.

And Smith says he did it on accident.

I thought it was a missed call by the refs. I thought I saw Smith laughing as he ran off the field. Makes me wonder if it really was "an accident". My kids when they were little had "accidents" all the time. He accidentally slugged his sister, she ate her brother's Halloween candy, they both accidentally kicked the dog. Stuff like that accidentally happens all the time.

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I thought it was a missed call by the refs. I thought I saw Smith laughing as he ran off the field. Makes me wonder if it really was "an accident". My kids when they were little had "accidents" all the time. He accidentally slugged his sister, she ate her brother's Halloween candy, they both accidentally kicked the dog. Stuff like that accidentally happens all the time.

Yeah I thought he was laughing too, and I researched many times to see, and I ended up thinking, he's not laughing but gritting his teeth. After he got sacked.

I tried to figure out the time on the clock, but don't see it, the Yahoo article said he was sacked as time went under 20 seconds.

In theory, it it was 20 seconds than the smart play would to have been fake an injury, and force the clock to stop. There would be a 10 second run off, but as long as you get your kicking unit set up, as long as there was 11 seconds left when the refs called the injury timeout, you'd be good. Against the rules, but no punishment, and guys do it all the time.

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So, looks like it came down to the refs once again missing an obvious call.
You’d think these “pros” would know such an obvious call.
Heck....if I can catch that, they sure as heck shouldn’t have missed it.

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So, looks like it came down to the refs once again missing an obvious call.
You’d think these “pros” would know such an obvious call.
Heck....if I can catch that, they sure as heck shouldn’t have missed it.

Well apparently they changed the rules on you, and the Ref was well within his right to make a judgement call based on current NFL training... which it was unclear how many non-current-refs actually knew...

In addition, the referee now has sole responsibility for determining administrative stoppages in such situations, and the clock must resume as soon as possible.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/12/10/nfl-tweaks-end-of-half-officiating-procedures-after-stoppage-before-washington-fg/ 

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