Why didn’t the officials stop the clock on the Colts’ final play vs. the Jaguars?

The Jacksonville Jaguars defense pitched a shutout Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts to snap a seven-game losing streak with a 6-0 win. But the finish wasn’t without a bit of controversy.

With one last chance to drive for a game-winning touchdown, Andrew Luck led the Colts into Jaguars territory. With nine seconds left, Luck dumped a pass off to tight end Erik Swoope, who was hit by cornerback Jalen Ramsey before landing out of bounds.

Instead of stopping the clock for a player going out of bounds, the official signaled for the clock to continue to run and — with no timeouts remaining — the Colts helplessly watched the final seconds of the game run to zero.

Here’s the play in question:

There’s no doubt Swoope landed out of bounds.

But that’s not why the official decided to continue to wind the clock.

“The covering official on this play is ruling that the player’s forward progress was stopped in the field of play and he was driven backwards while still in bounds,” CBS rules analyst and former NFL official Gene Steratore explained. “That’s a judgment call by the official and it’s not a reviewable play. Forward progress cannot be stopped and reviewed.”

That analysis was confirmed after the game by the game’s referee, Alex Kemp:

Phillip Heilman, Florida Times-Union: The last play, is that an example of a player being contacted inbounds and driven backward?

Alex Kemp: “Yes.”

Heilman: Can you explain when the play is dead at that point?

Kemp: “When forward progress is stopped with contact and the player driven backward, the play is over at that point.”

Heilman: So, it doesn’t matter if the player lands out of bounds before?

Kemp: “It doesn’t matter where he lands. It doesn’t matter if he drops the ball. It doesn’t matter what happens from that point. When he is contacted and driven backwards, the play is over.”

Still, it wasn’t a ruling Steratore agreed with.

“The philosophy is that you really want to make sure that it jumps out at you, especially inside the last two minutes of the game ... if you sit and pinpoint this step by step, does it look like he gets driven back? A little. In my opinion, this is just a good hit out of bounds and a stoppage of the game clock.”

Either way, the Jaguars defense locked down the Colts offense for the entire game. So one last heave at the end zone from about 25 yards out may not have mattered. But it was a frustrating way for the Colts to watch their five-game win streak come to an end.