The Steelers should have gotten at least five more seconds to line up their field goal team to try to tie the score Sunday in Cleveland.
Jerry Seeman, the NFL's senior director of officiating, called Coach Bill Cowher yesterday to admit that referee Bob McElwee's crew erred by not briefly stopping the clock after quarterback Kent Graham was sacked.
The third-down play started at the Cleveland 6 with 14 seconds left and the Steelers trailing, 23-20. The Steelers had no timeouts left. Courtney Brown sacked Graham for a 2-yard loss. The clock kept running as the Steelers rushed their field goal team out, but time expired before the players got set and had a chance to snap the ball.
NFL rules stipulate that an automatic referee's timeout should be called "anytime the player who originally takes the snap is tackled behind the line of scrimmage."
The rule changes during the final two minutes of each half. The clock still should be stopped, but "the game clock shall be restarted as soon as the ball has been spotted for the succeeding down, at which time the referee is to give the ready signal. In all cases, a minimum of five seconds must have elapsed before the ball is made ready for play."
With an additional five seconds, the Steelers believe they could have gotten off their attempt at a tying field goal by Kris Brown. It would have been a field goal attempt of 25 or 26 yards.
Coach Bill Cowher declined comment yesterday, and an NFL spokesman said no league official would comment on it.
"They're supposed to give me like five seconds, I believe, after a sack," Graham said. "But maybe when you're playing on the road they don't give you that luxury, I guess."
Offensive tackle Wayne Gandy knew the rule, but he refused to use it as an excuse for the Steelers' loss.
"That didn't lose the game. Just as much as we should have had those five seconds, maybe we should have thrown the ball out of bounds. Maybe we should have kicked the ball for a field goal on third down instead of even doing that."
NFL: Steelers should have gotten more time at end of the game 
