Jaguars final play shouldn't have happened, says NFL spokesman

The Jacksonville Jaguars got a bit lucky against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, getting a free untimed play after Elvis Dumervil was flagged for an obvious facemask penalty on quarterback Blake Bortles. Bortles was in the process of being sacked, which is why the play hurt that much more, but it also gave the Jaguars a chance to drill a game winning field goal. And of course, Jason Myers drilled the 50 plus yard attempt to pick up their third win of the season.

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh didn’t seem too happy with the call, indicating that he complained the Jaguars were in an illegal formation so the play should have never happened. It appears that someone in New York with the NFL agrees, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.

"Inside of the one minute remaining of either half, with the game clock running, when the offense is not set simultaneously prior to the snap, it’s a false start. This results in a 10-second runoff, which can only be avoided if a team has a timeout remaining. The correct call in this case would have been to penalize the offense for a false start, because all 11 players were not set and a whistle to stop the play. The ensuing 10-second run off should have ended the game."

It seems that Harbaugh was correct in his complaint after the game, but that’s how it works. When re-watching the play, it appears that left tackle Luke Joeckel is still coming down into his stance when the ball is snapped, but oh well. Sometimes those calls get made, sometimes they don’t.

Here's the gif: