Late in the first half of Thursday night’s NFL season opener, the Kansas City Chiefs had a personnel issue on the field and needed a timeout. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo ran down the sideline calling for a timeout. It was granted.
There was a problem: only the head coach could call a timeout from the sideline.
The timeout helped the Chiefs. With nine seconds left in the first half and some time to regroup, the Chiefs forced an incomplete pass. The Baltimore Ravens settled for a field goal.
While all of NBC’s replays did not show what Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was doing at the time, the network’s rules analyst Terry McAulay said on the broadcast that if Spagnuolo was granted the timeout, it shouldn’t have been.
“He can’t do that,” McAulay said. “It has to be the head coach that comes down. Nobody else can call a timeout on the sideline except the head coach.”
NBC announcer Mike Tirico said a referee “in the back corner” recognized Spagnuolo’s timeout and blew the whistle on him. Spagnuolo had a sheepish look on his face as he turned to Reid after the timeout and appeared to be apologizing to the head coach for taking the liberty of calling a timeout. The referee approached Spagnuolo and appeared to admonish him.
It worked. The defensive coordinator’s timely timeout may have cost the Ravens a touchdown, and they got a field goal instead. That was a big reason the Chiefs went into halftime with a 13-10 lead.
