Thursday Night NFL Kickoff Game Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs It was full of fascinating moments.
One of those moments came late in the first half, with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens looking for the game-winning touchdown. Baltimore faced second-and-goal from the Chiefs' 7-yard line, and with the Kansas City defense slowly lining up for the play, Mike Tirico in the broadcast booth wondered if the Chiefs needed to take a timeout to get their defense moving in the right direction.
The timeout came quickly.
There's just one problem: As you can see at the 43-second mark in the clip above, it appears that it was Kansas City's sideline coach, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who called the timeout, not head coach Andy Reid.
The incident sparked a debate on social media about who was responsible for calling the timeout, so as a fun activity on Friday, Official NFL Rulebook!
Rule 4 of the official NFL rules governs “Game Timing,” and Rule 4 contains Section 5, which deals with timeouts.
Article 5, Section 1, “Requesting a Team Timeout,” provides the following regarding who may request a timeout:
An umpire shall call a charged team timeout when play is stopped while the ball is dead and a head coach or player (not a substitute) requests a timeout from an umpire. If an assistant coach signals for a timeout and it is granted in error, the timeout is valid.
Rule 5.1 says only the head coach and players in the game can call a timeout. Assistant coaches like Spagnolo can't. But if an assistant coach calls for a timeout and an official hears the request and “mistakenly” grants the timeout, the timeout is valid.
The timeout may have been a good thing for Kansas City, as the Ravens' next play was an incomplete pass, forcing Baltimore to settle for a field goal before halftime and giving the Chiefs a 13-10 lead going into the locker room. Kansas City won by a final score of 27-20.
Now, it's worth noting that Reid also signaled for a timeout, which was granted, according to several reporters during the game. Spagnolo only ran over to get the attention of another official when he was convinced Reid's requested timeout had been denied. Sam McDowell, who covers the Chiefs, said: Kansas City StarHe made the following remarks on Thursday night:
The video doesn't explain the whole situation. It was Andy Reid who called for a timeout first. The referee at the back pylon noticed Reid and gave him the timeout.
Spaggs didn't see it, and the nearby official didn't see Reed's TO, so Spaggs went for it, as you can see here, but the timeout had already been called. https://t.co/NwfohwBFGA
— Sam McDowell (@SamMcDowell11) September 6, 2024
The timeout incident wasn't mentioned in Reid's post-game press conference because there were plenty of other things to discuss, but after it sparked significant discussion on social media Thursday night, I wanted to share the rule in case this incident occurs at another point this season.
