NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans were puzzled by their inability to get a kicking ball into the game after they took their offense off the field and sent on the field goal unit with time on the play clock against the Colts on Sept. 21.
But the video circulated to teams by the NFL officiate department that clarifies plays in question around the league makes it clear that teams don’t have leeway for a late decision on a short play clock, which the Titans were operating under after a timeout.
A typical play clock is 40 seconds, and we see coaches run offenses off the field in favor of field goal teams and still get kicking balls in for field goal attempts in those circumstances. I’m told teams that cut it to close can wind up forced to take timeouts or take delays for letting the play clock go to deep, which happens more often on punts than on field goals.
However, in the officiating video, NFL officiating and rules analyst Walt Anderson explains how things operate under the circumstances the Titans faced, specifically when they took the field after the Colts took a timeout and then took their own 30-second timeout.
Anderson talks over the video of the play, describing what is happening.
This makes it clear that Callahan and the Titans didn’t know the details of this operation or somehow think the league was creating this on the fly. Others around the league, however, were familiar with it.
The coach didn’t want to delve into it as his team is focused on the Cardinals, not on what unfolded two games ago.
It’s a second bad showing for Callahan as he didn’t know a rule in the season opener in Denver and/ or wasn’t able to articulate it after the fact.
Elic Ayomanor caught a 23-yard pass in Denver on opening day, landing with his elbow in bounds. He was called out of bounds and Callahan didn’t challenge the play. After the game he said the receiver needed not just an elbow but also a foot to land in bounds for a catch, which is incorrect. Any body part outside of a hand equals two feet.
The next day, he said his interpretation of the rule was wrong before going on to say he was well aware of the rule and that he had misspoken.
The timing of the kicking ball getting into the game is a more nuanced operational element. 
But Callahan simply has to know how that works, as does John Fassel, who said he’d never seen such a situation in his 21 years coaching NFL special teams.
I posted a video earlier this week on my social accounts, saying the Titans needed to put something strong out saying, while we are not a good football team, the league can’t ignore a hit to Cam Ward’s face that went uncalled in Houston or screw us by failing to get a kicking ball in the game.
I made a mistake there by counting on the Titans to understand the operations of an NFL game.
It’s new territory for me after all these years not to be able to rely on the coaches I cover to clarify the rules.
