By Bill Bradley, contributing editor
Clock management, intentional grounding and quarterback slides were among the topics discussed by NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino in his video review of Week 8 on-field calls, which was released Friday.
- The clock issue involved the Dallas Cowboys in the waning moments of their last-second loss to the Detroit Lions. Blandino used a holding call with 1:07 to play to illustate that with less than five minutes left in the game, the clock doesn't start until the ball is snapped following a penalty.
On this play, the penalty stopped the clock and kept the Cowboys from running off 40 seconds prior to punting the ball.
- From the same game, Blandino looked at a clock issue on intentional grounding. With 25 seconds left in the first half, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford committed that penalty, which also includes a 10-second runoff near the end of a half besides the loss of down and distance. However, the defense can decline the 10-second runoff, which is what the Cowboys did in this case.
- Blandino used a run by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith against the Cleveland Browns to explain the slide. Blandino said the quarterback, when sliding, is down after a body part aside from a hand or a foot touches the ground -- showing the quarterback has given himself up as a defenseless player.
He said if both players are playing the football and their feet tangle, there is no foul. However, if one player is playing the football and one isn't, then the foul is on the latter.
