Commanders-Saints ref Shawn Hochuli admits near game-changing mistake in final sequence

The referees had little explanation for a clock issue that one of the officials had which could have made a massive difference today in the outcome between the Washington Commanders and New Orleans Saints.

In the final moments, Spencer Rattler completed a pass to Foster Moreau where the clock should have continued to run. However, upon the reset and restart of the play clock, the regular clock stopped at nine seconds and stayed there for four to five seconds, which would have all but ended the game for New Orleans. Since it did, though, the Saints spiked it and got one more play that could have actually decided the game.

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“The covering official mistakenly stopped the clock in that situation,” Shawn Hochuli said postgame. “The clock should not have stopped.”

“It is not a situation that is reviewable,” Hochuli added. “That’s all I have for you, Luke. The covering official mistakenly stopped the clock at nine seconds and it is not reviewable.”

Again, this nearly cost the Commanders this game against the Saints with only three weeks left in the regular season as they’re in a wildcard race in the NFC.

New Orleans, who was down at 17-0 to start, came back with a 19-6 run in the second half. That included the touchdown pass from Rattler to Moreau again after the spike which brought the Saints within one as time expired. They then went for the two-point conversion on an untimed down rather than kicking it to send it to overtime with Rattler missing what would have been a go-ahead, game-winning pass to Juwan Johnson.

This will likely be forgotten moving forward considering it didn’t make a difference in the end. Still, it very well could have with how the clock wasn’t run this afternoon inside the Superdome.