Cheffers addresses Belichick timeout

Week 3: Patriots at Bills

Not much information here, but when a referee gives a pool report to the media, we report it here. The Bills scored a late-fourth-quarter touchdown that was reversed on replay. As a result of the reversal, the status of the clock was also reversed from stopped (on the touchdown call)  to running (down inside the 1-yard line). Following the announcement of the reversal, the clock is to return to its running state.

Apparently there was confusion on the part of Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and referee Carl Cheffers explained the scenario to a pool reporter after the game.

Q: What was the explanation on the Patriots’ second charged timeout at the end of the game … after the replay [review]?

Cheffers: Coach Belichick wanted an explanation as to what was going to take place after the replay. Obviously, we had a reversal. We put the ball at the half-yard line. The clock was going to start. He wanted a confirmation of what was going to happen at that point. I went over there and explained to him that the ball was at the half. He asked me when the clock was going to start. I said as soon as I was done with the explanation with him that I was going to go out on the field and start the clock. He stayed down there. I didn’t understand exactly why he stayed down there. I went back over there and he said he wanted a timeout. So I gave him his second charged timeout.