The most infamous extra timeout of all time is Chris Webber in the 1993 NCAA finals, calling a timeout that Michigan didn't have and handing North Carolina a basketball title in the Superdome. 22 years later a much less important extra timeout happened in the Lions-Saints game.
It's still interesting, though, because it illuminates a really bizarre rule -- or lack thereof -- in the NFL rulebook. As it turns out, there is no penalty for calling a timeout when you don't have one. Like, at all.
You can call a time out when you don't have one?
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 22, 2015We noted this in takeaways afterreviewing every instance of the word timeout in the NFL rulebook, and we learned this when the Lions attempted to call a timeout with the Saints running a 4th and 1 from the 1 late in the game.
From the GameTracker play-by-play (emphasis mine):
(:03) Detroit attempted to call timeout before the play was run, but was out of timeouts. The referee said the down would be replayed, and no timeout granted. (Shotgun) D.Brees pass short middle to M.Colston to DET 1 for no gain. PENALTY on NO-J.Evans, Ineligible Downfield Pass, 0 yards, enforced at DET 1 - No Play. On the play, Colston caught the ball and appeared to be in the endzone, but the referee ruled that after the ineligible downfield on pass penalty, the half was over.
At the very least the Saints should've gotten half the distance to the goal line, right? There's an inherent advantage for the Lions by calling a timeout when they don't have one even because they can freeze the play and set up their defense without any penalty. It's literally giving them a free timeout.
And according to official Pete Morelli, by rule there's no penalty.
“There is no penalty on that type of play. The only penalty on timeouts is when they freeze a kicker," Morelli said. "By rule, there’s no foul, no penalty by rule [for] granting an extra timeout.”
Worth noting: there is a penalty if you attempt to ice the kicker via an extra timeout or if you try and use injuries to take timeouts. But just accidentally calling timeout doesn't hurt you at all. That's incomprehensible.
In theory the officials should keep track of the timeouts and not whistle when there aren't any left. But in theory coaches shouldn't be trying to call timeouts when they don't have them either.
The only thing more surprising is more NFL teams haven't been abusing the loophole by calling timeouts in spots where they need a break but don't have any timeouts remaining.
