The Baltimore Ravens fans might be fuming right now. Not because they lost against the Kansas City Chiefs, or a myriad of illegal formation penalties. But because the Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo did something that’s completely off the books. What was so heinous, you might ask?

Well, Spags called a timeout, and the fans are upset about it. That’s because no one other than the head coach and the players on the field are allowed to make that call. Kurt Benkert, former NFL QB, and an analyst, voiced his concerns about what he saw coming from the Kansas City Chiefs sideline.

Benkert took to X and wrote, “Letting an assistant coach call a timeout. That’s illegal. But we are worried about ‘illegal formation.’” Even Steve Palazzolo, the co-host of a show called Check the Mic, took to X and shared his frustration over Spags taking charge over Andy Reid. “Spags just called a time out? Chiefs losing draft picks for that?” Here are the details of the rule, per Daily Express USA.

“The team’s head coach is the only coach who will call a timeout while watching the game, with other coaches on the team leaving that responsibility to the main man,” per the Column. “As well as coaches off the field, any player on the field can call a timeout – but it is almost always left to the quarterback and middle linebacker on both offense and defense.”

While all these frustrations are warranted, there’s another side to this coin and it needs to be addressed.

What really happened between the ref and Steve Spagnuolo

Per Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest, it was Spagnuolo who wanted a time out, but he had to ask Andy Reid for it. The Kansas City Chiefs HC did signal the timeout to the official, but the official didn’t take note of the gesture. The Ravens were 7-13 against the Chiefs at the moment that occurred with only 9 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

It was at that point the Chiefs DC took it upon himself to run downfield and get the referee’s attention. But there’s one problem here. Even if the ref didn’t hear Reid’s call, he did entertain Spagnuolo’s request without even looking at Andy Reid for a green light. However, the cameras didn’t show Andy Reid signaling for a timeout.

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The commentator mentioned how the Chiefs were having a “little bit of defensive confusion” as the camera switched to Spagnuolo, who had to deal with a frustrated official, but just for a second. But the frustration got Andy Reid too. The whole debacle might have been unfair for the Ravens. Even Lamar Jackson looked a bit angry about how things were going. Maybe the 2x MVP could have gotten a chance to score a much needed point if it weren’t for the forbidden time out.

What do you think about the “illegal” time out? Let us know below.