As much as it pains me to admit this, I don’t think it would have mattered:
Tom Brady, among the league’s best in late-game drives, led the Patriots down field for the winning score against the Steelers in 1:21 on Sunday.
But could he have done it in 29 seconds?
The NFL confirmed Monday that the game clock was improperly set early in the fourth quarter, adding 52 seconds to the game.
The error occurred at the beginning of the fourth quarter. With 14:51 remaining, Steelers receiver Cedric Wilson ran a reverse and was held to no gain; the play ran the clock down to 13:59.
A false start was called on Steelers guard Kendall Simmons on the next play, but instead of resetting the clock to 13:59, the clock operator set it back to 14:51 — the time before Wilson’s running play began. No one noticed the error, including the officiating crew.
Mike Pereira, the NFL’s senior director of officiating, spoke to coaches Bill Cowher and Bill Belichick about the error on Monday and addressed it in a prepared statement.
If this was a case in whcih 3-4 seconds late in the game were accidentally taken away, and the Steelers did not have achance to kick the field goal to tie it, that would be one thing. But this happened at the 14 minute mark, and assuming everything would have played out exactly the way it did is silly. What if the time had been added back? Maybe the Pats would have tried more running plays with 6 minutes left to try and kill more game clock? I just don’t see how this impacted the overall outcome of the game.
The Steelers, as much as I love them, were just bested by the Patriots. The game score was deceptive. I think the Patriots beat them up, and were simply tougher. Had the extra time been there, I have no doubt they would have played the game differently and found out a way to come out on top.