What should the refs have done in this situation? Is this unfair or smart coaching?
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https://theringer.com/vontaze-burfi...llie-snead-nfl-week-12-b7dbcc4c1a4#.fpjmhn11o
Winner: Crafty John Harbaugh
Rodger Sherman: One of the most annoying things about football: you don’t just get to keep playing offense forever. Ugh! This is especially frustrating when you’re leading with a few seconds left and get to fourth down. If you give the ball back to your opponent, especially if you’re pinned near your own end zone, they might score and win.
What do you do in this scenario? Do you just run around and hope the clock expires? If it doesn’t, you’re giving the ball to the opponent close to the goal line. Do you just hurl the ball up in the air and hope the clock expires? Oklahoma State tried this,
and thanks to some poor refereeing, it didn’t work out. Do you punt? Michigan, coached by Jim Harbaugh, tried this, and
it DEFINITELY didn’t work out.
But Harbaugh’s brother, John, has a strategy. He used it with 12 seconds remaining to seal a win over the Bengals.
View: https://twitter.com/firstandskol/status/802983821641551872
He gave punter Sam Koch the ball and ordered his offensive line to do whatever it took to stall defenders, even if it resulted in a penalty. Mostly they held. Flags flew, Koch danced around, and after the clock expired, he exited the end zone.
Penalties on the offense don’t extend the game (like a time-expiring penalty on the defense does), and you don’t have to punt the ball away after a safety with no time remaining unless the safety is caused by penalty, which in this case it was not. So the game was over, and the Ravens won.
It’s the second time Harbaugh has done this — 
he killed seven seconds from the end of Super Bowl XLVII with this strategy, although that time no penalties were called and the Ravens didn’t quite kill the clock, forcing a post-safety free kick.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert says
the officials could hypothetically rule an intentionally committed foul like this “a palpably unfair act” and force a replay of the down, but they would need to issue a warning first. If you’re trying something sneaky like this on the last play of the game, there’s nothing the officials can do besides throw their (meaningless) flags.
Soccer fans scorn intentional handballs to save goals, and basketball fans roll their eyes when teams repeatedly foul bad shooters. But in those situations, there’s some punishment for the team’s actions: A clear handball leads to a red card, and a poor shooter might hit free throws.
Harbaugh has found a rare instance in sports where an obvious violation of the rules doesn’t result in any consequences. Maybe it’s unsportsmanlike, but I don’t think any NFL coach would care. Until the rulebook changes to disincentivize this, coaches can and should do it. Harbaugh deserves credit for his craftiness.