Jim Nantz, Kevin Harlan explain calling phantom flag late in AFC Championship Game

If Buffalo Bills fans can find any shred of hope after their team fell once again to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, it may come from a flag that CBS called out on the broadcast as Josh Allen heaved a final fourth down throw toward Dalton Kincaid. As the yellow icon popped up on the CBS scorebug, both Jim Nantz on television and Kevin Harlan on radio called out the flag as fans clamored to find where the penalty occurred.

Upon review, CBS game analyst Tony Romo clarified he did not see a flag on-field while radio analyst Devin McCourty guessed it may have been due to Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins taking his helmet off on-field.

Yet in a new piece from Jimmy Traina at Sports Illustrated, both Nantz and Harlan explained why the confusion simply came down to a simple mistake from a production staffer at CBS.

Here’s what Nantz told Traina:

“When you have flags on the field, they can be thrown in the secondary, in the offensive backfield, all over the place So, there’s a spotter that works in coordination with the broadcast team.

“I’m just taking what information is passed along. I’m scanning the field and for the life of me I can’t find a flag. But the graphic is up and I’m told, which just part of the chain of communication, I’m told there’s a flag. The first thing you do when you’re told that is you scan the field and identify for your own edification. What are they looking at? Where did this take place? I couldn’t find it.”

Coincidentally, Harlan happened to be in the building calling the game for Westwood One. But during the regular season, Harlan of course is part of the No. 3 team for CBS.

So Harlan knew that CBS would have a spotter looking for flags and trusted, when he saw the flag pop up on the broadcast on the radio booth’s monitor, that it was accurate.

Here’s what Harlan told Traina:

“So, naturally when I see it come up on our CBS scorebug at the bottom of the screen, I said flag. There are so many times a flag is thrown in the four corners of the field, you aren’t even looking there, but it’s thrown 20 yards dow field or five yards in the back of the line of scrimmage. A lot of times you scan it, but a lot of times you don’t see it. Even when we’re doing TV, you don’t see the flag. So, I have relied on TV when I’m doing CBS that the word coming from the officiating booth to our truck to me in the booth says a flag is down. Even if I don’t see it, I trust that process.”

In a big spot, you want Nantz and Harlan on the call. But even the two beloved announcers have to rely on their production crew to make a great overall broadcast.

Some speculated that Kansas City’s yellow uniforms (as well as shoes, socks and sweatbands) may have contributed to the confusion. Or perhaps, a spotter just screwed up at a bad time.

Either way, the Chiefs earned the win with the fourth down stop coupled with two big first downs once they got the ball back to run out the clock and clinch a third straight AFC Championship win.