End of Giants-Redskins game

I have a question from the game.

After replay of the Redskins touchdown where they were looking if the knee hit the ground or not....the white hat said "the play stands" instead of "the play is confirmed". Cris Collinsworth said this word choice is because they could not find evidence to overturn the play. Is he correct or just blowing smoke?

[tmagan]

Originally Posted by AremRed

I have a question from the game.

After replay of the Redskins touchdown where they were looking if the knee hit the ground or not....the white hat said "the play stands" instead of "the play is confirmed". Cris Collinsworth said this word choice is because they could not find evidence to overturn the play. Is he correct or just blowing smoke?

He was correct, there was nothing convincing to overturn the play.

Originally Posted by tmagan

He was correct, there was nothing convincing to overturn the play.

I'm not asking about the overturning of the play, I am asking about the word choice when delivering the decision.

[APG]

Originally Posted by AremRed

I'm not asking about the overturning of the play, I am asking about the word choice when delivering the decision.

Play stands=not enough evidence to overturn
Confirmed=enough evidence to confirm call on the field

[tmagan]

Looking at the play in question, Triplette signaled 'third down' but in a way with his arm upward and diagonally that could have been interpreted as a 'first down'. Some officials 'first down' signals are different, i.e. Hochuli's is a psuedo baseball ejection symbol for a 'first down'.

Triplette basically threw the chain gang under the bus in the post game which is a problem because the head linesman clearly gave a signal to the chain gang to move the chains. I believe he did that because he saw Triplette's confusing first down signal and assumed he meant 'first down'.

I know they didn't want to give the offense a free timeout, but the clock has to be stopped in this situation to get everything right because in a game like this, it doesn't effect the rest of the season, but if this were a playoff game, well as Al Michaels would say: There would be hell to pay.

There is also a photo on the internet while Shanahan was arguing that showed the chain gang less than pleased with the officials.

[HLin NC]

While officials are averse to interrupting the flow late in the game at any level, this is the kind of screw-up that can pop up when you hurry and fail to communicate properly. It is still our job to administrate and if that means stopping and measuring then so be it.

I agree that the U spotted the ball incorrectly off the HL. It appeared The LJ foot was on the unofficial yellow line when the play ended.

[PAUmpire]

I read that the chains were reset as they were getting the 3rd down play off.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by PAUmpire

I read that the chains were reset as they were getting the 3rd down play off.

They were being set as the play started. However, the linesman on that side told Shanahan verbally that it was a first down when Shanahan asked for a measurement.

They screwed up. As soon as Triplette saw the chains moving he had to know there was a problem on that sideline and stopped it. And he obviously did as he began signalling 3rd down to that linesman emphatically.

[tmagan]

A way to solve this problem, in the future, is to use both arms to signal second or third down, why? Because 'first down' is always signaled with one arm. It is something I always saw the late Gordon McCarter do. Either that or late in a half, always have the referee signal the down with an open microphone.

People say they never saw this before. Something like this happened to Bob McElwee about a decade ago in a Bears game at the University of Illinois stadium while Soldier Field was undergoing renovations.