Washington quarterback Alex Smith cleverly used a loophole to get a free timeout in upset win

• Alex Smith and the Washington Football Team were able to work an extra timeout out of the referees on Monday night.
• With the final seconds draining off the clock, Smith ran off of the field with the ball as the field goal unit went on for an attempt.
• In the confusion, the referees stopped the clock to get a new ball out onto the field.

Alex Smith and the Washington Football Team, in a game they led by three points in the final minute and eventually won by six, put a field goal on the board late in the first half against the Steelers on Monday night, thanks to a puzzling loophole.

With just 23 seconds remaining in the first half, Smith and the Washington offense were facing third-and-16 at the Pittsburgh 24-yard line. Smith took a sack on the play, and Washington had no way to stop the clock as the field goal unit ran out. It was going to be close.

But just as the final seconds ticked away, the referees stopped the clock, as there was no ball on the field to play with. Why was there no ball on the field to play with? Because Smith had run off to the sidelines with it.

—Bet The Pigskin (@betthepigskin) December 7, 2020

Had Smith given the ball to the official, the spot could have been set, and the Washington field goal unit would have been under immense pressure to get off their kick fast. Instead, Smith jogged off with the ball, and the referees were left scrambling to find the special "K balls" used by the kicking team.

The referee that stopped the clock told the crowd that "an administrative issue" had taken place while the ball was being set, leading to the stoppage. As FOX NFL rules analyst Dean Blandino explained later, under normal circumstances, the referees would have gotten the ball from Smith and set the spot, with the field goal unit likely taking their chances kicking with the regular ball.

Instead, Smith was able to jog off the field with the ball, leaving the referees to figure out the rest on their own. Eventually, the referees found a ball and put eight seconds back on the clock, giving Washington more than enough time to put up a field goal for their first points of the game.

While it's impossible to know whether or not Smith's move was a happy accident or a bit of veteran savvy, he did appear to give a bit of a smile as he jogged away from the action.

—Pick Six Podcast (@picksixpod) December 7, 2020

On Twitter, fans were perplexed by the sequence.

—Rodger Sherman (@rodger) December 7, 2020

—Scott Bartlett (@WVUScott) December 8, 2020

—BOOMBETS (@WEBOOMINTHABOOK) December 8, 2020

Whether intentional or not, Smith appears to have revealed a previously unknown loophole in the rulebook.

As it turns out, Smith's play might have decided the game, as Washington went on to win the game 23-17.

In the NFL, every second counts.