Steelers Pats Game had 52 Second Error

With those extra 52 seconds in place, the Steelers rallied to tie the game 20-20 on Ben Roethlisberger's 4-yard TD pass to Hines Ward with 1:21 remaining.

But that was enough time for Brady to lead the Patriots into position for Adam Vinatieri, the league's best clutch kicker, to make a 43-yard field goal with one second remaining to beat the Steelers 23-20 at Heinz Field.

While it is unfortunate that the clock was wrong, I don't think you can say that Tom Brady and company wouldn't have won the game anyway. The mistake happened with enough time left in the fourth quarter that it probably doesn't change anything. A couple plays, timeouts might have occurred differently had the clock been set properly. This changes the whole course of the game, so it isn't really fair to say, "Would the Pats have been able to drive and score with only 29 seconds as opposed to the 1:21?"

Just subtracting those 52 seconds after the fact as if the constant monitoring of the clock doesn't effect every play thereafter is a logical flaw, I think. If the clock had been set properly, it is possible that the Pats wouldn't have had enough time to score, but it is also possible that they would have had the same amount of time. If one play can take 52 seconds off, then over the course of a quarter those 52 seconds, or some fraction thereof, could have been saved.

We will never know, of course, but I wouldn't dwell on it too much if I was a Steelers fan. There is plenty of football left to be played this season and short of a disaster, it is a two team race in the AFC North between the dreaded Steelers and a revamped Cincy team.