Billy Cundiff Rushed His Kick Because Of An Error On The Gillette Stadium Scoreboard

[BLeonard]

http://deadspin.com/5878655/billy-cundiff-rushed-his-kick-because-of-an-error-on-the-gillette-stadium-scoreboard



Cundiff told me he initially thought he was at fault, that he had looked at the scoreboard too early, before the down number had been changed. In fact, the Gillette Stadium scoreboard was off by a down. On Monday, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs told ESPN that Ravens players thought the team had made a first down after receiver Anquan Boldin fumbled out of bounds on first-and-10 from the Patriots' 23-yard line. Instead, the ball was marked where Boldin had lost it, a yard short of a first down. On second and third downs—which the scoreboard said were first and second—Ravens threw unsuccessfully into the end zone. Ravens P.R. director Kevin Byrne told me—and Cundiff later learned—that team officials watched the All-22 video of the game on Monday and confirmed the scoreboard malfunction.

The Ravens, of course, could have made all this confusion moot by calling a timeout. Instead, coach John Harbaugh decided to let Cundiff run on the field and kick.

But back to the scoreboard. Was the error on the Gillette Stadium board an honest mistake made by a confused Patriots employee? Or were there darker forces at work here—a little Belichickian Machiavellianism to confuse the opposition with a Super Bowl berth on the line? Cundiff blames no one but himself for the miss. But he's relieved to know he wasn't seeing things on the stadium scoreboard.


-Bill

[YardRat]

Mm-hmmm. An 'error'. How convenient.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

bastards

[Crisis]

Yeah, as much as I want to hate New England here... Baltimore had a time-out so they wouldn't have to rush anything. Blame should fall on them.

[G Wolly]

Yeah, as much as I want to hate New England here... Baltimore had a time-out so they wouldn't have to rush anything. Blame should fall on them.

My friends and I said the same thing.

The play clock was running out and they rushed the snap to beat it when they could have (and should have) burned the timeout.

[BADTHINGSMAN]

Yeah, as much as I want to hate New England here... Baltimore had a time-out so they wouldn't have to rush anything. Blame should fall on them.

Agreed! I to hate the Patridiots but this seems like an excuse to let the Raven's off the hook from losing. The Raven's had a time out so there was no reason to rush the kick.

My biggest problem with the Pat's is every time they make it to the SB its always with controversy that something went their way to win.

[BLeonard]

Agreed! I to hate the Patridiots but this seems like an excuse to let the Raven's off the hook from losing. The Raven's had a time out so there was no reason to rush the kick.

My biggest problem with the Pat's is every time they make it to the SB its always with controversy that something went their way to win.

This is kinda where I'm at too...

I wholeheartedly agree that Baltimore should have taken the timeout that they had, in order to not rush things.

But, why is it that there always seems to be some sort of "Out of left field" situation that benefits the Patriots?

The Tuck Rule, Spygate and now this... Something just stinks about all this.

-Bill

[mikemac2001]

its always something...ALWAYS!!!!

[Johnny Bugmenot]

Why was he using an unofficial scoreboard when the official down indicator is on the chains? Still his fault.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

remember in 98 when they called pi on buffalo in the regular season...

1st ever pi call on a hail mary... what a joke...

i couldnt sleep for 2 weeks after that...

[k-oneputt]

Anyone notice these errors, crazy official calls, pass interference called on a hail mary, even snowplows coming onto the field ALWAYS seem to happen in New England.
Almost forgot, Spygate. Another coincidence.

[OpIv37]

Should the kicker have looked at the official down marker? Yes.

Should Balt have used their time-out? Yes.

Does that excuse NE for the mistake? Absolutely not. At best, it was an error in a highly publicized game on national TV and at worst, it was a deliberate attempt to give NE an advantage. What Baltimore chose to do is a separate issue from holding the Patriots organization accountable for what shows up on their scoreboards. I guarantee that everyone else in that stadium, and everyone watching at home in Boston and Baltimore, knew exactly what down it was. There's no reason why the scoreboard operator shouldn't know.

[OpIv37]

and honestly, I'd be willing to dismiss this as an honest mistake if NE didn't have such a long and well established history of doing this kind of crap to gain little advantages, but they do.

[better days]

and honestly, I'd be willing to dismiss this as an honest mistake if NE didn't have such a long and well established history of doing this kind of crap to gain little advantages, but they do.

Everyone knows the Pats* will take advantage of every little edge they can to win, legal or not. The fact is the blame for the missed FG is 99.9% on the Ravens & the kicker. NO EXCUSE for not calling a time out there.

[utmhead]

The scorekeeper might have made a mistake, but the Ravens players also did not know the rule, they all thought it was a 1st down as well. IF the players don't know the rule, you expect some intern scoreboard operator to know it ???
They had a time out use it and take a deep breath

[Novacane]

Stupid kicker for missing a 32 yd kick. Stupid Harbaugh for not using his TO.

[TacklingDummy]

I blame the kicker for missing the chip shot kick.

[PTI]

I believe the whole thing, but Harbaugh should have called the TO, I was stunned by not him not taking it.

[Mski]

The scorekeeper might have made a mistake, but the Ravens players also did not know the rule, they all thought it was a 1st down as well. IF the players don't know the rule, you expect some intern scoreboard operator to know it ???
They had a time out use it and take a deep breathi find it next to impossible for the players to have not known the "cant advance by fumble" rule :bs:

[NOT THE DUDE...]

the issue isnt blame the pats for the glitch, deliberate or not. we all know the kicker and coach are to blame here, 100%.

the 2nd issue which is different is the pats are actually cheating.

spygate
weird formations on the sideline during punts to take out the gunner...
this clock issue
and god knows bill was trying something fishy in that last minute when we beat them this year.

they are scum! i seriously have more respect for the marino dolphins and bryan cox than bill and tom. at least cox never cheated...

[utmhead]

i find it next to impossible for the players to have not known the "cant advance by fumble" rule :bs:

want me to find the comments??, Suggs admitted that the sidelines thought they got a first down when the ball was fumbled.

[psubills62]

Just like headsets seem to malfunction frequently for road teams.

[TacklingDummy]

For once I like someone to say, "there is no excuse I missed it". Everyone knows nobody is perfect except for Draftboy.

[trapezeus]

using the timeout is a judgement call. imagine if he did call the timeout, the immediate reaction would have been "what was that? did he just ice his own kicker?"

it's a 31 yard field goal, it's a gimme. at the moment, calling the timeout seems foolish. in retrospect it's the right call.

and i love that the oddities never hurt the patriots. the patriots have not been on the wrong side of one of these calls in 10 years.

let's see those boston faithful support their crappy patriots team. oh right, they don't. so the nfl has a very motivated reason to continue to let a team that has no defense continue to succeed in their league.

and frankly most the other owners don't care, because they get paid out with boston winning. so i doubt we'll ever see "parity" again. it's boston or nothing unless ESPN goes out of business.

[Mike13]

This seems like a reach.

[stuckincincy]

using the timeout is a judgement call. imagine if he did call the timeout, the immediate reaction would have been "what was that? did he just ice his own kicker?"

it's a 31 yard field goal, it's a gimme. at the moment, calling the timeout seems foolish. in retrospect it's the right call.



Judgment call, correct.

I'm not going to bang on the BAL staff - things were iffy, they didn't call the time out. That happens - who is perfect?

Please use capital letters where appropriate.

[YardRat]

Please use capital letters where appropriate.

http://catmacros.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/grammar_correction_cat.jpg

[jcdavey]

i call BS because the kick was so short a 5 yard delay of game flag wouldn't have affected a guy like cundiff

if he indeed rushed it, he's a moron like kaeding, and mentally weak

[jcdavey]

oh and the real culprit is evans

he literally had a trip to the superbowl in his hands

gotta hang on to those