The “Fifth Down” play at the end of the Redskins-Buccaneers caused so much confusion that I logged onto NFL Game Rewind this morning to see exactly what happened.

To set the stage: the Redskins were driving after the two minute warning, moving the ball mostly through short passes to Keiland Williams. Williams caught a nine-yard pass on a crossing route to set up third-and-1 at the 21-yard line. With the clock running (and the announcers chuckling about the Redskins clock management), McNabb slowly brought the troops to the line and hit Santana Moss for nine yards on a short bench route. That set up first-and-10 from (about) the 12-yard line. The clock ticked under a minute as the Redskins came to the line.

With the Buccaneers playing a very soft zone coverage (either Cover-2 or Cover-4), Anthony Armstrong ran a short, uncontested slant route. Armstrong caught a low McNabb throw with his right leg at the four-yard line and his left knee practically on the ground just outside the five-yard line. Safety Corey Lynch breaks hard on the route. Armstong gets some forward momentum after the catch, but I have a still frame on my screen right now of Armstrong crumbled at roughly the three-and-a-half yard line after contact with Lynch.

Now, this is where it gets weird. The computer-generated yellow first down line is stretched across the two-yard line. The on-field first down marker, ground pad at all, is clearly standing at the three-yard line! When I rewound back to the snap, the down indicator stood just inside the 12-yard line, while the ball was snapped from about the 12-yard, one-foot line. The first down marker appears to be misplaced by a good two feet. I accounted for parallax as best I could, but no matter how I counted, it looked like the Redskins were in first-and-9 before Armstrong’s catch.

After Lynch downed Armstrong, the receiver slid for a moment, ending up with his helmet over the two-yard line (and the yellow line). At this point, Armstrong had a first down according to the yard markers on the field. In fact, even without the slide, he had a first down, or at least an excuse to measure, when Lynch landed on him.

Then it got weirder. Armstrong got up to run, as if Lynch never touched him. Armstrong then tossed the football to an official walking along at about the three-and-a-half yard line, a reasonable place to spot the ball. Umpire Ruben Fowler, standing at the one-yard line, asked for the ball. Fowler wandered a yard or two, first back toward midfield then to the middle of the field, before the camera shifted away to Mike Shanahan, who wanted a timeout because the clock was running during all of this nonsense.

When we cut back to the field (after shots of angry Shanahan and cheering wet Redskins fans), the down indicator read first down. The on-screen graphic read second-and-1. There was a blue line just inside the three-yard line and a yellow first down line at the two-yard line, where it always was and probably always should have been. The ball appeared to be about seven feet from the end zone, meaning that even if Armstrong’s catch appeared to be a first down according to the orange markers (which appeared to be misplaced), there should have been a measurement.

At this point, the official PBP on NFL.com read the following:

1-10-TB 12 (:49) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass short right to A.Armstrong to TB 3 for 9 yards (C.Lynch).

Timeout #2 by WAS at 00:32.

2-1-TB 3 (:32) D.McNabb pass incomplete short right to R.Williams.

The Redskins ran a fade, then a sweep to Williams, then called another timeout. The television graphics never sync up with the down markers. The announcers are clearly confused on the incomplete pass to Fred Davis on third-and-4. “It is fourth down. The sticks on the field are incorrect,” Kenny Albert said as McNabb dropped to pass. A close-up of the Dial-a-Down switching to fourth down followed the Fred Davis incompletion. “There’s going to be some confusion on this one,” Moose Johnston said. Deciding to remain silent and be thought fools, the announcers just called the next play – the Santana Moss touchdown – without mentioning the down mix-up.

The official PBP read:

1-10-TB 12 (:49) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass short right to A.Armstrong to TB 3 for 9 yards (C.Lynch).

Timeout #2 by WAS at 00:32.

2-1-TB 3 (:32) D.McNabb pass incomplete short right to R.Williams.

3-1-TB 3 (:28) R.Torain right end ran ob at TB 6 for -3 yards (T.Crowder).

4-4-TB 6 (:18) D.McNabb pass incomplete short middle to F.Davis.

Washington Redskins 0:04

4-4-TB 6 (:13) D.McNabb pass short middle to S.Moss for 6 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

So let’s see: we have about two feet of links missing from the first down chains, which somehow stretch from the 12 to the three-yard line; a generous spot for Armstrong’s catch; an umpire taking the ball away from a fellow official in good position to make a spot and going for a stroll around the red zone with it; and a pass play that gained somewhere between 9.25 and 10.05 yards on first-and-10 in a close game that isn’t measured, even though the clock stopped. Raheem Morris should have demanded a measurement, or the officials just should have done it themselves. If those chains were stretched out, Armstrong would never have been rewarded a first down. Then again, Morris might have preferred giving the Redskins the first down: extra downs mean extra shots at the end zone.

I don’t think this was a case of home cooking. I think it was raining. The chain gang got a little lax about placement. The referees wanted to keep things moving. Shanahan was screaming about timeouts, and everybody was focused more on the clock than the markers, which became less relevant once the Redskins were inside the five-yard line. Everyone on the field assumed that Armstrong had a first down: the down indicator stayed consistent through the whole series, and, there is no evidence of confusion among the Buccaneers when they line up for the Moss touchdown. And of course, the missed extra point rendered the whole sequence moot.

It just goes to show you that the closer you watch football, the stranger it becomes.