Vikings play Pittsburgh in first ever regular season NFL game in Dublin (AP)
DUBLIN (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings were trying to get into field-goal range for a potential tying score late in the fourth quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Not having a play clock to look at directly over the defense made it even tougher for quarterback Carson Wentz.
Minnesota took a delay of game penalty with 14 seconds left, creating fourth-and-17 from the Vikings 32. Wentz then threw an incomplete pass and the comeback fell short in a 24-21 loss to Pittsburgh in Ireland’s first regular-season NFL game.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell wasn’t happy.
“It was a unique thing about coming to play here and then you find out about three minutes before the kickoff that that end zone’s game clock and play clock would be turned off for the day,” O’Connell said.
“Normally that clock right in front of the quarterback is kind of registering ‘I’ve got to get going.’ It was just precious time lost in a sequence,” he added.
O’Connell said they were trying to get “as detailed of a play off” as possible, arranging protection “to give us a chance on the play to let our guys get downfield.”
“That was a critical, critical penalty.”
The NFL said in a statement that both teams were informed of the problem.
“We used the stadium scoreboard above the north end zone to display the game clock and play clock due to an issue with synching the static stadium clock and play clock at that end of the field. Players always had the play clock and game clock visible to them at all times. Both clubs were informed of this prior to game,” the league’s statement said.
That scoreboard, however, is in a corner of the stadium.
“Yeah, it was weird,” Wentz said. “I’m not going to lie, it was weird looking behind me, looking over my shoulder on the side. I thought we handled it OK. Obviously got us at a very bad time of the game, unfortunately. But yeah, that was a little different.”
Ultimately, though, Wentz said the delay of game penalty was his fault.
“That’s on me. I’ve got to be quicker in and out. I think I just kind of lost sight of it, obviously physically, and was kind of back of my mind, so I’ve got to be better,” he said.
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