National Football League

Chain error causes 5th down confusion

Published Dec. 13, 2010 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

For those watching on television, it appeared the Washington Redskins scored their final touchdown on fifth down.

For the players on the field, there was no such confusion.

A slight error by a member of the chain gang was one of the reasons the Redskins seemed to catch a break in the final seconds of their 17-16 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday.

When Washington got a first down on a pass to Santana Moss late in the game, the ball was spotted outside the Buccaneers' 12-yard line. However, the auxiliary down marker was set at the 3 - less than the requisite 10 yards.

When Anthony Armstrong caught a pass at the 2 1/2 on the next play, officials awarded a first down. The game's official statisticians, apparently unaware of the first-down ruling, awarded Armstrong only a 9-yard gain that would have created a second-and-1, throwing off the reporters in the press box as well as the announcers on the Fox broadcast.

The Redskins and Buccaneers players were aware that it was a first down and played accordingly. The Redskins ran four more plays, scoring a touchdown on a 6-yard pass on fourth down with 9 seconds to play.

Any chance that the so-called ''fifth down'' would turn into a full-blown controversy was negated when the Redskins botched the extra point that would have sent the game to overtime.