The NFL acknowledged Monday that referee Jeff Triplette's crew erred on the Washington Redskins' final possession Sunday night against the New York Giants.
NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino, in a statement obtained by NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport, said officials should have stopped play to correct the down and distance and communicated the mistake to both teams.
Predictably, one man would have been ticked had the refs stopped play.
"Let's face it: They don't have any timeouts, the clock is moving. That should have been straightened out in the first place, but it wasn't,'' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Monday. "There's a lot of things going on out there, and the referee allowed that the game would continue to play and then made the correction. We would have been upset had the clock been stopped, sure we would have. Not that it would have made a difference, but we would have.''
NFL referees have been under heavy scrutiny for missed calls throughout the 2013 season.
Several additional coaches had discussions with the league office regarding the refs' performance Sunday.
»Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said he sent about 15 plays from Sunday's loss to the NFL that show "obvious problems" with the officiating.
»Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak said the NFL admitted officials made mistakes on three calls in Sunday's loss to the Colts, per the Tennessean.
» And let's not forget Baltimore Ravens kick returner Jacoby Joneswanting a penalty on Mike Tomlin's now infamous sideline controversy.
» Of course, not everyone is upset with the officials this season:
*The latest "Around The League Podcast" recapped every Week 13 game. *
