Here's what happened at the end of the Lions-Falcons game

The rule was put in place to prevent teams from taking advantage of stopped time.

The Falcons beat the Lions after a walk-off overturned play. Golden Tate appeared to score the game-winning touchdown after a well-executed two-minute drill. However, the play was reviewed, and Tate didn’t get in the end zone.

With eight seconds left in the game, and the overturned call, a 10-second runoff was assessed. That gave the Falcons the win, moving them to 3-0 and putting the Lions at 2-1.

This can be a little confusing, but we’ll make it easy for you.

Why was there a 10-second runoff?

Because the play was ruled a touchdown and Tate was in bounds, it meant that there would have been time taken off the clock if it was ruled correctly in the first place. Since the touchdown was overturned, the 10-second runoff is used to prevent teams from taking advantage of the stoppage in time.

Our Cyd Zeigler gave a pretty simple explanation of it last year that applies today:

The 10-second runoff option exists to prevent one team from taking advantage of its own penalty or injury by stopping the clock without using a timeout. If the game has 10 or fewer seconds left, a runoff can end the game. A team can also spend a timeout to prevent a 10-second runoff. It works the same way in college and the NFL.

But there’s also more complex items that go along with them:

1. You need one of these: an injury timeout, a player's helmet coming off during a play (and not due to a foul), or an accepted penalty for one of a number of fouls. (If the penalty yardage is declined, the runoff is also declined). However, if any of these happen to both teams on the same play, there is not an option for a runoff.

2. The incident in question has to happen in the last minute of a half. There cannot be a runoff in the other 58 minutes of the game. The final minutes of the first and third quarters do not qualify.

3. Most complicated: the injury, helmet issue, or foul has to be the only reason the clock stopped. If the clock is not running when the foul occurs, there is no runoff.

So ... if the Lions had a timeout, they could have used it?

Yes. When a team has a timeout or timeouts, they are allowed to use them to prevent a 10-second runoff. The entire point of the runoff is to prevent teams from taking advantage of penalties or stoppages of play.

If the play wasn’t ruled a TD, it would have helped the Lions.

The Lions called the play with 12 seconds left. While it initially looked like a touchdown, it would’ve worked out better had it not been ruled a touchdown.

If he was ruled down short of the end zone, the odds of the Lions lining up in time and snapping the ball would have been small, but it would have been better than taking a 10-second runoff.

Lions head coach Jim Caldwell thought that his team could have gotten another play off had Tate been ruled short in the first place:

They would have been even better off had officials ruled it an incomplete pass, stopping the clock entirely. Instead, the Falcons get an odd walk-off win.