As the Saints attempted to get into scoring position late in the first half on Monday night, about 15 seconds ran off the clock while they didn’t realize the clock was running. Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi was not happy about that.
The clock was stopped briefly after Saints receiver Kevin Austin fumbled the ball out of bounds, but then re-started as soon as the ball was brought back to be spotted for the next play. Rizzi said after the game that the official told him the clock would remain stopped, and that he would have immediately called timeout if he had known.
“Both covering officials ruled the clock stopped,” Rizzi said. “I asked the official, the covering official, if the clock was going to remain stopped. I got a yes, and I turned back to talk to the offensive coaches and talk about our plan there and what we were going to do there at the end of the half, and then they decided that he fumbled the ball forward and it just wasn’t communicated to me that the clock had re-started so we lost some precious valuable time there. So that’s what happened.”
It was a major clock management error at one of the few points in the game when the Saints were in a position where they thought they might score. The Saints ultimately lost 34-0.
“If you come away with no points, you have zero chance of winning the game,” Rizzi said.
