Bill Belichick Makes Curious Challenge Decision Vs. Chargers, Patriots Burn All Three Timeouts In Short Span
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bill Belichick often makes mid-game calls that no other NFL coaches would make. Usually, that's a good thing. On Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, it wasn't quite a successful moment.
Belichick threw his challenge flag following a holding penalty on the Chargers, hoping to turn a standard penalty call into one that resulted in a safety.
It didn't work out.
The moment came with 12:25 left in the fourth quarter. A 14-yard completion from Justin Herbert to Stephen Anderson was negated by a holding penalty on offensive lineman Matt Feiler, who hauled Christian Barmore to the ground near the 5-yard line.
The penalty was enforced, but before the Chargers ran their play on second-and-12, Belichick threw his red challenge flag. Referee Ronald Torbert announced, "New England has challenged the ruling on the field that the hold took place in the field of play."
If the holding penalty took place in the end zone, then the play would have resulted in the safety. It's possible, though, that Belichick got some bad intel and believed the penalty was called on the edge. The actual hold took place in the interior, nowhere near the goal line.
A moderately quick review resulted in the call on the field being upheld. The Patriots lost the challenge and lost a timeout.
It looked to be potentially dicey for the visiting team, but shortly thereafter, Adrian Phillips came up with a pick-six to turn a 17-16 deficit into a 24-17 Patriots lead.
The Patriots did, however, have to burn a timeout on the first play of the ensuing Chargers drive, after the kickoff following the defensive touchdown. That sequence of events left the Patriots with the lead, but also with just one timeout for the final 10-plus minutes of the fourth quarter.
They used their final timeout, too, with 6:38 left in regulation, after a post-whistle scuffle led to Mac Jones' offense running out of time to run a play without taking a delay of game penalty.
It ended up not hurting, as the Patriots were able to drain nearly seven minutes off the clock before taking a two-possession lead with a Nick Folk field goal en route to a 27-24 win.
