Replacement Refs Lose Track Of Timeouts, Give Seattle An Extra One, Then Lie About It

A day of replacement referee miscues came to its climax as Arizona-Seattle ended up with the Seahawks being awarded an extra time out in the final moments in Glendale.

The trouble continued as the squad—led by referee Bruce Hermansen—attempted to cover up for allowing the extra stoppage by claiming an injury in the last two minutes that is accompanied by a stopped clock doesn't lead to a charged time out for the injured player's team. That's actually wrong, as Fox's referee expert Mike Pereira pointed out (stating that the only difference is that there's no ten-second runoff) and our own editor emeritus Will Leitch illustrated that the timeout was indeed charged at the time. You can view video of that play, and the timeout being charged, below:

The coverup is, of course, always worse than the crime, and this was only one of a dozen or so blunders by crews during the NFL's Sunday late games. We'll have all of the rest tomorrow morning, but here's your "scabs' Chris Webber" moment. [Fox]