The refs blew it on the Titans’ surprise onside kick vs. Rams

It doesn’t matter which NFL team you follow. You can always find at least one call in every game to take issue with.

When Titans fans make that claim this week, they’re right.

The Titans are fighting for their playoff lives, and they were all tied up, 20-20, against the Rams with 4:23 left in the third quarter. They went for a surprise onside kick, and safety Brynden Trawick recovered it cleanly. The bold kick shocked everyone, including Chris Myers and Daryl Johnston in the booth, and especially the Rams, who didn’t appear to be ready.

A flag was thrown. The referees conferred on the field, and official Walt Anderson announced that the Rams had called time out before the kick.

There’s just one big problem with that. Head coach Sean McVay is the only person on that sideline with the authority to call a time out. McVay looked utterly confused at Anderson’s announcement.

McVay can clearly be seen saying what everyone else must have been thinking: “What?”

Officials huddled up with McVay and special teams coach John Fassel to talk about the time out that wasn’t. Then Anderson came back with another announcement.

“There is no time out. The ball was not put in play. It’s first down ... for a kickoff,” Anderson says.

So the Titans had to kick off again. The chances of pulling off a successful onside kick twice in a row are slim to none. Ryan Succop kicked it into the end zone for a Rams touchback.

Succop said that the refs did put the ball in play.

“Obviously, the referee always tells me, ‘Wait till we blow the whistle,’” Succop said, via Jason Wolf of USA Today. “And he put the ball down, I saw him give the signal like it was a live ball, and I even looked and saw the play clock counting down.”

This is Succop’s ninth season in the NFL. He’s probably got a decent idea of the timing here. But he still doesn’t understand what happened with this play.

“We recovered the ball. And I’m not sure about the ruling,” Succop said. “I don’t know what happened there. But it’s unfortunate. ... I thought it seemed like it should have been our ball, and for whatever reason it wasn’t.”

Head coach Mike Mularkey said after the game that he didn’t even want to talk about the explanation officials gave him for their administration of that play. But he was also angry about two missed roughing the punter calls.

“The punt wasn’t blocked, the first one. That’s the frustrating part. So it was roughing the punter. He was actually hit both times,” Mularkey said. “It was very inconsistent, and I’ll say this, that’s been about the most consistent thing they’ve done is been inconsistent. Week-in, week-out. Not just here, but for us, for sure.”

The NFL’s vice president of football communications, Michael Signora, told The Tennessean via email that Anderson and crew made a mistake.

“The officials inadvertently miscommunicated to the Los Angeles sideline that it was a full timeout instead of a 30-second timeout” Signora wrote. “When L.A. was not ready for the kickoff due to the miscommunication, the officials decided to shut it down and allow for a re-kick.”

The NFL will review the way the crew handled the play.

“Every play of every game is evaluated, both for calls that are made and those that are not made,” Signora said. “This also includes an evaluation of game administration, such as this situation.”

Former NFL VP of officiating Dean Blandino said that the ball must not have been ready for play.

But that doesn’t line up with Succop’s version of events.

The onside kick came right on the heels of a DeMarco Murray touchdown to tie the game up. The Titans had momentum. The flag and the confusion stripped them of it. They went on to lose 27-23.

The Titans can still lock up a wild card spot if they beat the Jaguars on Sunday. But if they lose to Jacksonville, they’ll only get in if the Bills and the Chargers also lose.

Even if Anderson and the rest of the officiating crew do end up facing discipline for the error, it won’t help the Titans a bit.