Washington quarterback Alex Smith pulled a fast one on the officials during Monday’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Trailing 14-0 as the final seconds ticked off the clock before halftime, Smith was sacked on third down.
With no timeouts, Washington was running out of time to set up for a field goal. Thus, Smith cleverly ran off the field with the football. Officials were left scrambling to get the kicking ball on the field, forcing them to stop the clock for an “administrative issue.”
Time would have undoubtedly ran out without the officials stopping the clock. Instead, Washington was allowed to set up their field goal unit and Dustin Hopkins made the 49-yard kick, cutting their deficit to 14-3 at halftime.
As clever as Smith appeared to be, the veteran QB admitted he did not purposely run off the field with ball.
“It was not intentional, really,” Smith said per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “I was just trying to speed up the process of us getting off and getting the K-ball on so they could go kick it.”
In similar situations which the offensive team does not have a timeout with the clock running, officials usually choose to go on to the field goal attempt with a regular game ball. However, Smith took the game ball with him to the sidelines. Therefore, the officials were forced to get the “K-ball” on the field.
Even if the intent was genuine, Smith surely deserves credit causing the officials’ gaffe. Some can argue it helped change the direction of the game, which to that point the Steelers dominated. It definitely turned into a positive for Washington.
Washington received the ball to start the second half, marching to a 14-play touchdown to make it a one-score game. They went on to outscore the Steelers 20-3 in the second half for the 23-17 win. The loss was Pittsburgh’s first of the season.
