Steelers Nation will not be happy with this.
Pittsburgh was one Ryan Succop 41-yard field goal away from miraculously reaching the playoffs. The Chiefs kicker missed, though, and the Chargers went on to win 27-24 in overtime to claim the AFC’s final wild-card spot.
But the NFL admitted Monday that the game perhaps should not have even reached overtime. Referee Bill Levy’s crew missed a violation of a new rule saying the defending team cannot have more than six players on either side of the snapper. As you can see below, the Chargers clearly had seven players to the right of the snapper.
https://twitter.com/SamWalkerOBX/status/417503305963544577/
Succop still would have had to make a 36-yard field goal to secure the Chiefs win, but instead it will be the Chargers visiting the Bengals on Sunday in the wild-card round after losses by the Dolphins and Ravens on Sunday opened the door for San Diego.
The Steelers, who stood at 2-6 at the halfway mark, rallied to 8-8 and would have sneaked into the tournament had Succop converted. Coach Mike Tomlin said:Â “I’m not going to lose any sleep over something that happened in a stadium that we weren’t even in.”
Here is the statement from the NFL:
“With 0:08 remaining in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers, Kansas City faced a fourth-and-12 from the San Diego 23. The Chiefs attempted a 41-yard field that was no good. On the play, San Diego lined up with seven men on one side of the snapper. This should have been penalized as an illegal formation by the defense.
Rule 9, Section 1, Article 3(b)(1) of the NFL Rule Book (page 51) states that ‘No more than six Team B players may be on the line of scrimmage on either side of the snapper at the snap.’ The rule was adopted this year as a player safety measure.
The penalty for illegal formation by the defense is a loss of five yards. This rule is not subject to instant replay review. Had the penalty been assessed, it would have resulted in a fourth-and-7 from the San Diego 18 with 0:04 remaining, enabling the Chiefs to attempt a 36-yard field goal.”