Quote:
Originally Posted by bbcof83
I am not going to allow a "slow trigger finger" by the timer to end a well contested game. We officials, as a crew, are in charge of this game and we say when it's over, not the timer (who may be caught up watching the game, dropped the control button, morally compromised, or otherwise distracted). Timer error - mistake #1
If I know there was time on the clock when I granted the TO, the game is not over. We screwed up by not looking, Official's error - mistake #2 so now we're going to fix our mistake. Another official's error - mistake #3. Otherwise known as compounding your mistakes. Any official who simply would say "We don't have definite knowledge of the time when the whistle blew, game over" is using terrible judgment and IMO is taking the cowardly way out.
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Actually, the cowardly way out is trying to do something outside the rules just to keep people happy, and make things "fair" in your mind. Yep, the timer might've screwed up by not stopping the clock in time. But the crew also screwed up by not observing exactly how much time was on the clock at the time of the whistle. And the cowardly way is not simply admitting the screwup, but trying to get out of it by doing something specifically not allowed by the rules. And there is no where in the rules or case plays that allow an "estimate" of any kind.