TV camera angles, lightning storm probably cost Panthers turnover on downs because of safety rules
The Carolina-Tampa Bay game is already marred by a camera issue created by the weather
By
Will Brinson
•
2 min read
The 2019 NFL season has already been a bizarre one and it only got weirder on Thursday night in Week 2 when the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers met in Charlotte for a divisional matchup. The game started out slow and it hit a major snag during the middle of the first quarter when a lightning storm popped up, cruised through downtown Charlotte and created a 26-minute delay.
But the delay wasn't the only issue created by the lightning in and around the Charlotte area on Thursday night. Because of what Joe Buck described as "FOX safety rules," the broadcast was forced to reduce the number of cameras being used on the broadcast to just two. It makes for some funky viewing on television, but more importantly, it limits the number of angles available for replay.
One of the angles not available was on the sideline and that became a massive problem for the Panthers when they went for a fourth down near midfield and ran an option play with Cam Newton. Cam kept the ball and leapt for the first down ... and appeared to get the ball over before his knee was down, but was given a bad spot on the ball.
As you can (kind of) see below, Cam's knee wasn't on the ground as he stretched out to reach for the first down. The Panthers had the ball on the Buccaneers 47-yard line and needed a yard to get the first down, which would have been at the Bucs 46 yard-line. It's pretty obvious he got it to me. In real-time it was definitely close because of how Newton stretched out, but looking this angle, how could you miss it?
It seems pretty obvious he got it! On the other angle provided by FOX, it appeared even more obvious Cam got across the line to gain because the first-down line was included.
There was some video that emerged (shoutout to Funhouse, an excellent account especially if you like amusing things involving certain radio hosts):
— Ƒunhouse (@BackAftaThis) September 13, 2019
It's pretty obvious the Panthers got this first down. Ron Rivera challenged the spot. But because it was initially placed where it was the Panthers would need completely conclusive evidence to overturn the call, but there wasn't enough evidence because there weren't enough camera angles!
Immediately after this play, the first-half delay occurred and when the game came back, the Buccaneers had the ball. Even if the refs wanted to review the call again, it wouldn't have mattered, as the cameras weren't operational until about 20 more minutes after the game started.
The cameras being used were not man-powered -- FOX was forced to use the spider cams hanging above the field for much of the first half, because it turns out having people holding giant metal electronic equipment during a lightning storm is frowned on at the workplace.
Certainly understandable, but for the Panthers, it probably cost them a first down on their opening drive, which looked promising until mother nature wrecked it.
