The Cincinnati Bengals caught the Cleveland Browns off guard for the winning touchdown in Sunday's season opener, but they didn't violate the NFL's substitution rule, a person familiar with the ruling told The Associated Press.
On a third-and-12 play with 4:31 remaining in the game, the Bengals quickly snapped the ball to quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, who threw a 41-yard TD pass to rookie A.J. Green en route to a 27-17 victory over the AFC North rival Browns. The person, who spoke to The AP on the condition of anonymity because rulings between teams and the league are confidential, said the Bengals legally substituted and didn't have an advantage on the play.
Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Grudentold The Cincinnati Enquirer on Monday that the play was within the rules.
"It was a legal play," Gruden said. "We substituted, but we huddled and we broke the huddle and snapped it. There was nothing to it really. We broke the huddle, the receivers got set and we snapped the ball. They just weren't ready."
After the game, Browns coach Pat Shurmur wasn't sure if the Bengals' touchdown was illegal. But on Monday, Shurmur accepted responsibility for not calling a timeout before the ball was snapped. Cleveland's defense was still in the huddle when the ball was snapped, and by the time the Browns reacted, it was too late, with Green streaking into the end zone for his first career touchdown.
"There are no excuses," Shurmur said. "If they no-huddle or quick huddle, we have to get out there and cover. If that doesn't happen properly, let's call a timeout. It got snapped so quickly, we couldn't really get it because you're initially trying to get everybody where they need to be.
Browns defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson sent in rookie nickel back Buster Skrine on the play, not realizing that Dimitri Patterson, who had sat out the previous play with an ankle injury, already was back on the field.
Patterson said he forgot to tell Henderson he was going back in the game.
"We all had our eyes on D'Qwell," Browns linebacker Scott Fujita said. "It was one of those things that we were in the middle of a personnel change and everything was just kind of frozen and then, bam, they came out in 2-point stances. I think they had been gearing up to do that, and we were slow coming out of the huddle earlier, but that's on all of us."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
