The New York Giants and Washington Commanders gave us one of the craziest games of Week 15 as the Giants defense crossed the goal line with less than a minute left to leave Landover with a 20-12 win. However, there were some controversial moments during this goal-line position. It looks like Curtis Samuel was interfered in the end zone on fourth base, and then there was the Terry McLaurin fiasco.
On third base, Washington running back Brian Robinson scored a touchdown from the 1-yard line to cut the Giants’ lead to just two runs. However, McLaurin was flagged for lining up incorrectly, which ended the play. When you go back and watch the play in question, McLaurin was definitely not lined up at the line of scrimmage. However, McLaurin attempted to check with the official to see if he was lined up correctly.
McLaurin changed position after checking with the referee. Did the official confirm to him that he was then good? Check out the interaction, here:
McLaurin said after the game that he felt like he lined up correctly and that the official was at fault for saying his fit was good enough.
“I felt like I was on the ball all the time,” McLaurin said, via The Washington Post. I checked to see if I was good the first time and he was like, “Go up a little.” So when I moved, I checked to see if I was good, and he said I was good.'”
This penalty was of course mentioned in the pool report, where John Hussey explained what happened.
Question: Let’s talk about Terry McLaurin’s game, was it indeed an illegal formation and what did you see? Turned out he pointed to the official, does he have to tell Terry he’s in the line or not
Hussey: “Well, I didn’t see any of that, because I’m in the backfield. What I’ve been told and what’s been confirmed is that the ball was broken at the half yard line, and he was lined up one yard back at the one and a half yard line. To be considered legal, he must break the waist line, center waist, and he does not didn’t break the center’s waist. That’s why the penalty was called, because he wasn’t in a court formation.”
Question: When a player points to the official like this, does the official have to say if he is on the line or not?
Hussey: “Not usually, and the official could do other things, like count the infraction – there’s a whole host of different tasks. So I can’t confirm whether the official even saw that or not, but he was clearly out of place in scrum.”
What we learned from that exchange is that it’s not the official’s job to line up for the receiver. It is typical protocol for a sidelined player to check with the official to see if they are lined up correctly, and the official will usually, if not always, say whether the player is on the line of scrimmage or not. We don’t know what the official said to McLaurin or what McLaurin’s understanding was, but the bottom line is that the widening was not at the line of scrimmage.
