Pittsburgh Steelers

Glazer: NFL 'extremely sensitive' about clock fail in Chargers-Steelers game

Published Oct. 18, 2015 1:04 p.m. ET

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The fallout from the clock gaffe in the Steelers' win over the Chargers on Monday night continues.

"The NFL has gotten extremely sensitive about this," according to FOX Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer, who said NFL security plans to interview the clock operator today.

"Certain protocols were not followed," Glazer reported. "The NFL has gotten extremely sensitive about something that happened on this big of a stage."

In case you missed it, 18 seconds were incorrectly run off the clock late in the fourth quarter Monday night in the Pittsburgh Steelers' 24-20 victory at the San Diego Chargers -- and none of the game officials noticed the gaffe and corrected it.

The NFL suspended side judge Rob Vernatchi for one game for not managing the clock properly in the fourth quarter. After a kickoff that was not returned, 18 seconds ran off the clock. The side judge is in charge of monitoring the game clock, which is kept on the stadium scoreboard.

In a statement emailed Tuesday, league spokesman Michael Signora said that "an error by the clock operator" after a touchback allowed the extra time to tick away, and "it is the responsibility of the side judge to supervise the timing of the game."

Each game-clock operator is hired by the league, not the home team, and lives near the stadium hosting for regular-season games. In the playoffs, the league uses operators who don't live in the area of the host teams.

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