newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

This may be considered blasphemy in some circles, but the question has come up about the legality of the play that gave the Denver Broncos their win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Some reviews of Tim Tebow’s 80-yard game-winning touchdown pass are saying that the Broncos may have been short one player at the line of scrimmage. For a team’s formation to be legal, seven players have to be on the line of scrimmage or within one yard of it.

According to the Denver Post, a look at the Broncos' alignment showed that only six players were on the line before the winning play. The seventh player looked to be behind the 19 at the snap. If that was the case, NFL rules say the Broncos should have been penalized five yards and the winning play would have been called back.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, however, told NFL.com, "This was a legal formation and should not have been flagged."

And Mike Pereira, former vice president of officiating said to the Post, "This is a good formation compared to many. They are not technical with this."

Chris Chase of Yahoo Sports says the NFL usually enforces their rules to the letter, but Pereira implied that if seven guys are near the line and set, things are legal.

WPXI Pittsburgh reported that the Steelers weren’t upset about the play.

"That`s not going to give us the win and send us to New England," cornerback William Gay said. "They scored a touchdown bottom line." Wide receiver Antonio Brown said, "They still made a play no matter what the formation is. We still got beat."