During Thursday’s season-opening game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, there was an obvious referee error, which NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay immediately addressed during the broadcast.

Late in the second quarter, the Ravens found themselves in a prime position to potentially take the lead heading into the second half, as they were near the goal line with nine seconds left in the half.

The Ravens considered sending a field goal unit out to score the points, but decided against it at the last minute and brought the offense back onto the field.

This confused the Chiefs defense, which clearly did not have the right personnel on the field. This led to the coaches on the sidelines, particularly defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, frantically running down the sideline to call a timeout so the right players could come on the field.

Ultimately, they were granted the timeout. The only problem, however, is that assistant coaches aren’t technically allowed to call timeouts, which McAulay relayed when the NBC announcer’s booth discussed the situation.

“He’s not allowed to do that. The head coach has to intervene. The assistant coach – no one other than the head coach can call a timeout on the sidelines.”

NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay on the referees’ granting of Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s timeout request.

“He’s not allowed to do that. The head coach has to intervene. No one else on the sidelines can call for a timeout except the head coach.” pic.twitter.com/OPQPPYtcOD

— Awful Announcement (@awfulannouncing) 6 September 2024

As Mike Tirico later pointed out, it wasn’t the referee Spagnuolo ran to who approved Spagnuolo’s timeout request. It was a referee in the back corner of the end zone who granted the timeout.

So he apparently either assumed that Reid was running down the sideline trying to call a timeout, or he simply forgot the rule that says an assistant coach can’t call a timeout.

Be that as it may, the timeout ultimately had consequences. The Chiefs were able to limit the Ravens to a field goal on the next play after an incomplete pass from the Ravens, so that the Chiefs led 13-10 going into the second half.

Of course, no one will ever know what would have happened if the timeout had not been called, but considering the Chiefs obviously did not have the right players on the field, the Ravens may have had a good chance to score on this play.

Regardless, McAulay and the rest of the NBC broadcast team were quick to spot the referee’s error, which could have had a significant impact on the final outcome.

(Terrible announcement about X)