The N.F.L. suspended the side judge Rob Vernatchi on Thursday for one game for not managing the clock properly in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh’s victory at San Diego on Monday night.
After a kickoff that was not returned, 18 seconds ran off the clock. The side judge is in charge of monitoring the game clock, which is kept on the stadium scoreboard.
Vernatchi “will not officiate in Week 6 as a result of the failure to notice that the game clock was incorrectly started,” Michael Signora, a spokesman for the league, said. Signora added that Vernatchi would return to the referee Pete Morelli’s crew for Week 7.