We went through this in Edmonton two years ago. the Clock stops when the whistle blows. Otherwise every play of the game should be reviewed by freeze frame. There is reaction time on every play including the last one of the game. He took a knee but no one touched him so till someone touches him the play is live.
Not true. There have been a lot of plays where a player takes a knee and the play is blown dead (the most obvious example is when the QB takes a knee). If the player voluntarily gives himself up, the refs can blow the whistle without anyone touching him.
Correct “can” and once the ref blows it dead, has nothing to do with the timing of the knee. Till then the play is live. How do you explain Brian Bratton’s TD ? The ref should have hurried and blown the play dead ? Ref’s call as to when he deems the play dead.
The league should have reviewed. Why have video review and then ignore it on the most crucial play. We don't need to review the clock on every play HfxTc, that pure hyperbole. The NHL will review the official time in the last minute of a period over 1 second but no other time unless the clock has delayed in stopping for several seconds. Same applies here. It's the difference between a 1 point Als victory and 1 more play. The officials on the field are watching the play and can't say if the play was dead before or after the clock hit zero.
The league MUST review that play. They laid a huge steamy pile on this game and it begs the question be asked again, why do we have a coach as chief official and not someone with officiating experience. For those who think it's OK to have Higgins run the officiating circus I ask, do you want Andre Proulx as the head coach of your team?
You don’t put the fox in charge of hen house. Higgins is doing a great job.
So when a QB puts his knee down and the ref lets the few last seconds run out thats ok but now, he’s supposed to have superhuman reaction time. I don’t think we need frame by frame in football for a receiver with a live ball putting his knee down at the 55 yard line. And the hockey analogy is not valid imo because this is was not a score. If this had been a score it would have been reviewed just like in hockey.
Unless there is a camera that shows the knee going down AND the official game clock in the same frame, what is there to review??? Remember, the TSN clock is NOT the official clock.
I explain it by those two plays not even being close to the same thing. Bratton never gave himself up, whereas Lewis did. Bratton caught a pass and fell down and got back up. Lewis caught the pass took a knee. Whena QB trips on the centre’s foot and hits the ground, does the ref blow the play dead? Of course not. But they do blow the play dead when a QB takes the snap and deliberately takes a knee. Do you see the difference now? The Bratton play and the Lewis play are not the same thing, and you know that. What’s done is done, but there should have been at least one second, if not two, left on the clock.
When the QB gives himself up. The play is dead when the Ref blows the whistle. Not when he puts his knee down. The ref is entitled to take a “normal” amount of time to make the decision that the player has or not given himself up. It’s the whistle that matters. not the action of the player. And the Refs have been blamed plenty of times for whistling the play dead too early mostly on fumble situations, but now we want the opposite.
How do we know there should have been two seconds left ? Could the ref see Lewis, when he put his knee down? or was his view obstructed by one of the other 23 players ? its a human component of the game. Lewis took a chance and the clock had run out by the time the ref blew the whistle. I didn’t see anything obvious or out of the ordinary. Not to mention that he took a knee at the 55 yard line. Hardly a given that a score would have happened IF they had gotten another play. even a missed field goal through the end zone would have had to travel more than 82 yards. I don’t see the fuss. Really.
I agree with the other part of what you said but Lewis was on the 46, not the 55 when he took a knee. The LOS on that play was the Montreal 51 yard line and it was a 5 yard completion according to the game tracker. It would have been a long FG try and maybe just at the edge of Paredes’ range (his longest FG was a 50 yarder last season).
I am pretty sure time is not a reviewable matter (unchallengeable per say). It was definitely close.
thought I would put some excepts from the rule book up:
Time will not be put back onto the game clock as a result of a successful challenge.
On the last play of a half, if time runs out during a play that is subsequently reviewed,
the half is over, regardless of the result of the review
NOT REVIEWABLE PLAYS
These include, but are not limited to:
• Proper down
• Status of the clock
• Penalty calls and their Administration
• Forward progress not relating to a first down or goal line
• Force outs on pass plays near a sideline
• Recovery of loose ball in the field of play
• Field Goals
A few excerpts on what stops the clock:
• When the quarterback, in possession of the ball, intentionally kneels on the
ground during the last three minutes of a half
• When a player, having possession of the ball in their own Goal Area, intentionally
kneels on the ground
• When a ball carrier is on the ground and, in the judgment of the official, is not
attempting to advance the ball, the official shall immediately declare the ball dead.
The last point is key...Yes he took a knee, but it is going to take a ref a second to react to that. Even if you went by the clock on the TV (which I believe was darned close to the same based on his reaction as he caught the ball and was looking at the game clock), there was about 1-1.5 seconds left...how fast is a ref supposed to determine that a player is ending progress and then ply the whistle? It was a tough break, but non-reviewable and ultimately a whistle based on human judgement...I am confident the ref was looking at the clock as he blew the whistle.
The stamps perhaps shouldn't have huddled with under 30 seconds left and it would likely be a mute point.
Maybe the official who blew the whistle wasn’t looking at the clock - I hope he was looking at the ball carrier, actually - but I expect that another official, possibly a linesman, was assigned to watch the scoreboard clock, which is the official game clock. That official’s job would have been to see how much was left when he heard the whistle. Notice that the referee conferred with another official at the end of the play before declaring the game over? That was probably the official given the responsibility to watch the clock.
That’s the precedent I would use for why they should have reviewed the time left on the game clock last night. CFL officiating division fumbles another one, this time it’s Higgins and his war room “experts” and not the on field crew.
I’m not a fan of the crew that did that game last night, but I thought they did a decent job of that game.