Steelers-Chargers Ending Gives Vegas Big Win
Last-Second Polamalu Touchdown Scratched; Gamblers Lose Millions
The bizarre ending of the Steelers-Chargers game had a much greater impact than a meaningless touchdown and left a fishy feeling in many a conspiracy theorists's mind.
Steelers Touchdown Scratched
After Jeff Reed’s 32-yard field goal put the Steelers in front of San Diego 11-10 with five seconds remaining, San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers dumped the ball over the middle to LaDanian Tomlinson, who quickly lateraled to Chris Chambers, who again lateraled the ball backward. The play was broken up by Troy Polamalu who eventually picked it up and ran it into the end zone.
The touchdown was later taken off the board, with referee Scott Green first explaining that Tomlinson’s lateral to Chambers was an illegal forward lateral, a penalty the Steelers declined and upholding the touchdown. Green then ruled that the illegal forward lateral hit the Heinz Field turf, making the play dead, even though it was the second lateral that touched the ground, not the first. Game over. No touchdown. Final score: 11-10.
So other than the fantasy geeks who lost a Steelers’ defensive touchdown, it doesn’t matter, right? Pittsburgh would have won anyway, so who cares?
Not so fast.
Steelers-Chargers Gambling Impact
The Steelers were favored in Vegas by five points, which means Polamalu’s touchdown was the difference in Pittsburgh covering the spread. An estimated $100 million was legally bet on this game worldwide, according to Pregame.com, making it the most gambled-upon game of the weekend.
Sixty-six percent of those bettors picked Pittsburgh to cover the spread, compared to only 34 percent for San Diego, causing a $66 million win for the Vegas bookies. Jay Kornegay, a bookie at the Las Vegas Hilton, when asked about the finish on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, said “the books really needed a San Diego win.”
In addition to the overturned touchdown, Pittsburgh was flagged for thirteen penalties, including two on its final game-winning drive. San Diego was only charged with two, one of them the illegal forward lateral on the game’s final play.
Blown Call
Green did go on to acknowledge after the game that the call was a mistake and the touchdown should have counted. When asked why the play was ruled dead, Green said “We didn't kill it on the field. After discussion we decided there was some confusion over which pass we were talking about, and it was decided that it was the second pass that was illegal that did hit the ground, and therefore we killed the play there.”
“We should have let the play go through in the end, yes. It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play, we should have let the play go through,” he added.
Either way, the confusion surrounding a Stanford-band type play which in any other circumstances would not have mattered, affected a lot more people than at first glance.
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