Officials in Washington admitted an inadvertent whistle on a DeAngelo Williams touchdown run, but said the Panthers running back was already in the end zone when it blew.
Referee Carl Cheffers said in a pool report that Williams’ 30-yard touchdown run in the first quarter stood because the offensive team has a choice to take the result of the play or replay the down in such an occurrence.
“Yes. The line judge blew his whistle,” Cheffers said. “We had a lot of discussion about it. We just felt when the whistle blew, that the player would have already scored a touchdown. So, we tried to piece together if we had to spot — by rule, we would have to put him down when the whistle blew, and we tried to decide where that spot would be, and we felt that spot would be in the end zone. . . .
“Yep. That by the time the whistle blew, he had already crossed the goal line. That was our decision, and that’s why I announced that the ruling on the field is touchdown.”
Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said he was having a discussion over whether there was a hold on the play, and the Redskins likely weren’t going to get into a debate after DeAngelo Hall’s ejection last week.