We had already seen enough weirdness in the fourth quarter of the Bucs-Rams divisional round playoff game when the two teams exchanged fumbles in a nine-second span. With 14:43 left in the fourth quarter, Von Miller strip-sacked Tom Brady and recovered the ball to give it to the Rams…
.@VonMiller strip sack! What a PLAY. #RamsHouse
📺: #LARvsTB on NBC
📱: https://t.co/6Hz1DjFj3t pic.twitter.com/Yvyf7XbZGw— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2022
…and with 14:33 left in the fourth quarter, Rams center Brian Allen snapped the ball somewhere in the vicinity of Jacksonville as opposed to Matthew Stafford’s hands, and the Bucs got the ball back.
WHAT IS HAPPENING?!@Buccaneers get the ball RIGHT BACK.
📺: #LARvsTB on NBC
📱: https://t.co/6Hz1DjFj3t pic.twitter.com/pIMo83Zp3O— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2022
Down 27-13, the Bucs desperately tried to drive to a much-needed score, but they wound up with fourth-and-14 from the Los Angeles 36-yard line. From there, Brady tried to hit receiver Mike Evans on a deep pass down the left boundary, but the pass was incomplete.
And then, things got really weird.
After the play was over, Rams safety Eric Weddle was given a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Evans.
The Weddle hit/penalty: https://t.co/4maIUWQRhx pic.twitter.com/8nLTeytvgB
— ✯✯✯✯✯ (@FTB_Vids_YT) January 23, 2022
You’d think the Buccaneers would keep the ball after that, but Weddle made his illegal impact just in the nick of time. Because the ball hit the ground before the hit, it was a dead-ball foul, and the Rams got the ball back on downs.
A strange kink in the rule book that benefits the penalized team, and one wonders if the Competition Committee will look at an Eric Weddle Amendment to the rule in the offseason.
Not that it will help Brady’s team in their attempt to make this a competitive game.
