Detroit Lions Win in London After Delay of Game Penalty Gives Them Another Chance to Kick Game-Winning Field Goal [GIF]

When the Detroit Lions trotted out their field goal kicker to win the game against the Atlanta Falcons in London no one was real worried about it. Well--no one on Atlanta's sideline at least. Folks in Detroit had to be going crazy. Yeah, Matt Prater was a stud in Denver before they cut him, but he did miss to in his season debut with the Lions against Minnesota.

Sure enough--the kicking Gods did not look favorably upon the Lions once again. But...

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The play never should have happened since the play clock had ticked down to zero before the ball was snapped. So Prater got another chance from five yards further back and this time it worked:

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There is a million dollar question that needs to be answered though. Why wasn't the game over when the Lions committed a penalty? According to the rules shouldn't there have been a ten-second run off because an offensive penalty was committed with less than minute to go in the half?

I thought that should have been the case so I did a little digging to see why it wasn't. Apparently the runoff rule does not apply when the clock was stopped and waiting for the play to begin in order to start again (according to the NFL Rules Digest):

A team cannot buy an excess time out for a penalty. However, a fourth time out is allowed without penalty for an injured player, who must be removed immediately. A fifth time out or more is allowed for an injury and a five-yard penalty is assessed if the clock was running. Additionally, if the clock was running and the score is tied or the team in possession is losing, the ball cannot be put in play for at least 10 seconds on the fourth or more time out. The half or game can end while those 10 seconds are run off on the clock.

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