Not only has former NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira already taken issue with the call made by the officials on the fake punt forward progress in the Sunday afternoon game between the San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs, it also appears that the officiating crew missed a call on the field goal miss by Chiefs kicker Ryan Succop as well.
As Pereira points out on Twitter, the Chargers had more than six players on one side of the Chiefs center on the line of scrimmage and that is a new rule and a foul. The Chargers should have been flagged for an illegal defensive formation on the play and as a result, Succop should have been given another shot.
This is crazy and it is yet another black eye for the NFL when it comes to their officiating this season, which has been terrible. This won’t put the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs, but it certainly will be the talk for the next several days.
Article 3: Defensive Team Formation
(a) When Team A presents a punt, field-goal, or Try Kick formation, a Team B player, who is within one yard of the line of
scrimmage, must have his entire body outside the snapper’s shoulder pads at the snap.
(b) When Team A presents a field-goal or Try Kick formation:
(1) No more than six Team B players may be on the line of scrimmage on either side of the snapper at the
snap; and
Note: These restrictions do not apply if a team does not present a standard punt, field goal, or Try Kick formation (an equal
number of players on the line of scrimmage on either side of the snapper in a tight formation), or if, after the offensive
team has assumed a set position, there is a shift, or a player goes in motion.
