Redskins: Inadvertent whistle gave Panthers a TD

Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

LANDOVER, Md. -- You might have experienced a replacement officials flashback if you watched the first quarter of the Redskins-Panthers game on Sunday.

In a scene reminiscent of the early season referee-lockout shenanigans, Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams tore up the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown run, yet Redskins linebacker Perry Riley pulled up early, explaining that he heard a whistle and couldn't tell if Williams had stepped out of bounds.

The referees huddled for some time and declared a touchdown, explaining after the game there was an inadvertent whistle, yet they believed Williams would have scored a touchdown either way.

Here's how head ref Carl Cheffers explains it:

"The line judge blew his whistle. 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."

Riley disagreed, saying he heard the whistle clearly before he would have tackled Williams.

"I would've pushed him out of bounds if there wasn't a whistle," he said. "From the angle I was coming from, I couldn't see if he stepped out or not. So when I heard the whistle I stopped. I don't know who's at fault, but I heard it."

Former NFL Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira, who has carved out a unique Twitter niche as the civilian judge of such officiating matters, says the refs got it wrong.

Tweeted Pereira: "In WSH/CAR even though he didn't step out of bounds the official should've admitted he blew the whistle and ball should have been dead there."

Riley believes the Redskins would have stopped the Panthers for a field goal, obviously, and it might have been a different game. As it stood, Carolina took a 7-3 lead and won 21-13.

"That takes a touchdown off the board," he says. "If we stop them and get a field goal it's a whole different game.

"I don't want to push him out after the whistle and get a 15-yard personal foul. I hate it had to happen like that because it makes me look like I wasn't hustling. I always play 100% every snap ... until the whistle."