Broken 1st-down chain temporarily pauses Giants-Eagles Divisional Round game

The biggest chain story in the NFL since Aqib Talib and Michael Crabtree

Every year we watch the NFL and wonder why a multi-billion dollar operation still uses chain crews to determine whether or not the ball reached the first-down marker. But what happens if the chains don’t actually work?

Early in the first quarter of the NFC Divisional Round between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, the game had to be delayed for several minutes for “an administrative stoppage” because the chains broke off from the signal poles. Seriously. In 2023.

This is certainly not a common occurrence to have the chain links not in place. We’re talking a serious crisis here! No worries, for there’s always a highly advanced solution to such a problem! The crew put the chains back together with masking tape.

With the way the first quarter went, the first-down chain links were only marginally more broken than the Giants defense was by the Eagles offense.