Officials may have messed up key grounding call on Cousins

The National Football League apparently believes a key intentional-grounding call made against Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins during Sunday’s deflating loss at New Orleans was erroneous.

A league source pointed out Monday morning the intentional grounding rule includes a requirement that the passer be “facing an imminent loss of yardage because of pressure from the defence,” a strong suggestion the National Football League believes that was not the case with Cousins and the penalty should not have been called. The league declined to comment on any communications between Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice-president of officiating, and the Redskins after the game about the call.

The call pushed the Redskins out of field goal range on their final drive of the fourth quarter and resulted in a 10-second run-off, a combination that doomed a last-ditch effort to win in regulation. They lost, 34-31, in overtime after leading, 31-16, in the fourth quarter.

Joe Lockhart, the NFL’s executive vice-president of communications and public affairs, said in a conference call with reporters later Monday morning that teams regularly express displeasure with a particular call or calls and those conversations with the league’s officiating department are private.

Lockhart cited the provision of the rule that a quarterback be facing an imminent threat of being sacked, and said: “That is a judgment call. In the judgment of the referee here, it was. And he threw the flag.”