Eagles-Commanders Teaches NFL Fans That Referees Can Award A Touchdown
Apparently, there's a provision in the rules where an NFL referee can simply award a team a touchdown. Did you know that? If so, congratulations, you know more than I do about the NFL rulebook.
A truly bizarre situation unfolded during the NFC Championship Game between the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles, which led to one of the strangest NFL referee announcements that I have ever heard in my life.
Saquon Barkley took a hand-off from Jalen Hurts and rumbled down inside the Commanders' 5-yard line. Everyone in the stadium knew what was coming next: Philadelphia planned to run the "Brotherly Shove" as many times as necessary to score a touchdown.
It's a play that's incredibly hard to stop, in part because of the Eagles' offensive line, in part because of the strength of Jalen Hurts' lower body and in part because of the toughness of the players in the Eagles' backfield.
With their backs up against the wall, although literally up against their own goal line, the Commanders tried to stop the "tush push" by getting a jump on the snap. However, they failed several times in a row, committing three encroachment penalties in the process.
NFL referee Shawn Hochuli announced during the Philadelphia Eagles-Washington Commanders match in the NFC Championship that he could award a touchdown, which confused many fans.
(Getty Images)
At that point, NFL referee Shawn Hochuli made one of the strangest announcements in history.
"Washington has been advised that at some point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again," he said.
Wait, what? Seriously?
This would have made no sense. Firstly, Washington wasn't purposefully jumping offsides. Why would they? It provided zero benefit. As the trailing team, the Commanders wanted to conserve as much time as possible.
Because the clock was running prior to the penalties, every time the Commanders jumped offside, the Eagles were able to run more time off the clock. Washington stopped the first attempt by Hurts to score with 13:34 left in the fourth quarter.
After all the penalties, Hurts eventually scored with 12:34 remaining on the clock. The play clock is only 40 seconds, so Philadelphia ran an additional 30 seconds thanks to the penalties by the Commanders.
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The implication by Hochuli seemed to be that Washington was committing encroachment penalties on purpose, and they clearly weren't. They were trying to time the snap count to give themselves a chance to make a crucial stop late in the NFC Championship Game.
NFL fans were rightfully confused by Hochuli's announcement, and some even had jokes.
Just when you think you've seen it all in the NFL, a referee threatens a team that he's going to award the opponent a touchdown. What a time to be alive.