The play-by-play of Jordan Love’s 44-yard pass to Jayden Reed at the end of the third quarter of Thursday night’s Green Bay Packers-Detroit Lions game looks like this:
(:01) (No Huddle, Shotgun) J.Love pass deep right to J.Reed to DET 9 for 44 yards (W.Harris).
Here’s the problem: The play never should have happened. Referee Alan Eck and his crew clearly missed the game clock expiring at the end of the quarter before the play went off, which means that it never should gave gone off.
Should this play have been blown dead? pic.twitter.com/1jbTwxyo8J
— PFF (@PFF) September 29, 2023
It was explained thusly by former referee and current rules analyst Terry McAulay:
“The clock clearly hits zero before the ball is snapped, and this is not like the play clock, where’s there’s somewhat of a delay between when it’s shut down and a delay of game. Once the clock hits zero, it’s over. It should be shut down on the field.”
McAulay also noted that this was not reviewable, so the Lions had no recourse.
The Packers finished this drive with a nine-yard Jordan Love touchdown run to make the score 27-17 in the Lions’ favor. Detroit had a 27-3 load when the third quarter started.