What happened was the opposing coach called a timeout after the play had started, thus nullifying the kick. According to the referee’s ruling, the timeouts must have been called before the play started, but it sure didn’t look that way. The timeouts might have been called right in the nick of time, but if you call a timeout such that the ref doesn’t have enough time to whistle it before the play starts, it shouldn’t count.

What you have here is a kicker who esentially has to make the same kick twice in order to win. Now, I know it can be argued, what if he misses the first kick? The coach is taking just as much of a risk by calling the timeout as he would by not calling it.

Wrong. Coaches wouldn’t call it in the first place if the second kick had the same success chances as the first kick? Trying a game-winning kick in and of itself brings enough pressure to the kicker. Trying it again is that much harder. After making the kick and thinking they’ve won, having all the testosterone go through you, the feelings of ecstacy, the surprise, then the pressure again. No wonder both kickers missed their second attempt.

Calling a timeout before a kick to ice the kicker is one thing–pressure is a part of the game–but calling it just as the ball is snapped is wrong. It doesn’t help define the winner. It doesn’t contribute to the game. Winning the game twice just to win it once isn’t part of the game. After two straight weeks of this, I hope the NFL realizes they need to fix it.

What do you think? Post your opinion in the comment section.

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