At least it counts in our hearts.
It was an easy mistake — especially if you’ve been a confused referee throughout the entire game.
The Official explanation from Green:
We should have let the play go through in the end, yes…. It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play, we should have let the play go through.”
The confusion exists, even in their explanation. I think the first pass was probably from Rivers.
The first pass was the one that was illegal, but it only kills the play if it hits the ground…. That was incorrect to have killed it at that point. The ruling should have let the play go on. That’s just the way that it played out. We believe the second pass (by Tomlinson) was legal.
…
We didn’t kill it on the field…. After (the) discussion we decided … there was some confusion over which pass we were talking about and it was decided that it was the second pass that was illegal that did hit the ground and therefore we killed the play there.
Of course, the pass was not a forward pass, but clearly a backward pass. Duh.
“I know,” Green said. “The rule was misinterpreted.”