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Ref Explains Mysterious Clock Stoppage That Allowed Saints to Score a Last-Second TD

Stephen Douglas

The clock stops at the end of the Commanders - Saints game.
The clock stops at the end of the Commanders - Saints game. / @NinerNick_22
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The Washington Commanders beat the New Orleans Saints 20-19 in Week 15. The Saints scored a touchdown on the final play of regulation to put themselves in position to send the game to overtime with an extra point or possibly win the game with a two-point conversion. The Saints went for it, but Spencer Rattler's pass to Juwan Johnson was unsuccessful.

Since the Commanders held on to win, it doesn't even really matter that the Saints probably scored that last second touchdown because of an unwarranted clock stoppage with nine seconds remaining in the game.

On fourth-and-three form the eight with 17 seconds remaining, Rattler hit Foster Moreau for a first down. Moreau was tackled at the one and one of the officials ran in waving his arms above his head, signaling to stop the clock despite the fact that the Saints had not called timeout because they were out of them.

Many fans noticed the clock stopping for approximately four seconds, which allowed the Saints just enough time to get one final play off.

Referee Shawn Hochuli was asked about the clock stoppage after the game and confirmed that the clock should not have stopped, but since the play was not reviewable there was nothing they could do and it doesn't matter when they realized what had happened because the play was not reviewable.

Let's just say the NFL would have a pretty big headache on their hands if the Saints had converted that two-point conversion and the Commanders had dropped to 8-6 in the middle of a very tight playoff race.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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