What exactly happened on the Terry McLaurin exchange with referee before key illegal formation call on 'SNF'?

The headline is exactly it: What happened here on Sunday night when the Washington Commanders scored a touchdown while down 20-12 with just over a minute to go against the New York Giants … but Terry McLaurin was flagged for illegal formation?

I ask because there are some strange parts of the play, specifically that the Commanders receiver interacted with the side judge — maybe a couple of times? — before the ball was snapped.

Let’s review the whole thing: McLaurin looked to the official and had some kind of exchange. Ball is snapped, flag flies from said side judge, no touchdown. It looks like he was just off the ball in hindsight:

Terry McLaurin looks at the ref asking if he’s good – ref points back at McLaurin as of to indicate he’s good. McLaurin then gives a thumbs up to ref to acknowledge it. This “penalty” took a Brian Robinson TD off the board. Via @SNFonNBC pic.twitter.com/B86N6nsJsS

— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) December 19, 2022

But McLaurin said the official told him he was lined up correctly before the snap after he was told to move up:

Listen to Terry McLaurin explain that he heard the official tell him he was good, then the official threw a flagged for illegal formation. @wusa9 #HTTC pic.twitter.com/Rsvl6Cmcrh

— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) December 19, 2022

Then everyone broke down the film to figure it out — maybe the official did tell him to move up so he was on the line?

If you look closely, the following exchange happened:

– Ref points and tells McLaurin to move up

– McLaurin acknowledges, moves up a little, and does a final check

– Ref responds with one word and then starts moving his hand to his flag, pulling immediately on hike

Yikes pic.twitter.com/Bc7Eyx5bTQ

— Justin Herzig (@JustinHerzig) December 19, 2022

Here’s the pool report with the referee, John Hussey, and not the side judge:

Pool report with referee John Hussey. On the McLaurin penalty. https://t.co/1OHxziT2bj pic.twitter.com/OwTtpgfwt4

— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) December 19, 2022

It doesn’t really elucidate anything beyond the fact that McLaurin probably wasn’t lined up correctly but maybe he got a mixed signal from the official. And the next play? An uncalled pass interference on the Giants. Not a great night for officials here! And now you know why Ron Rivera answered like this when asked:

Ron Rivera is obviously upset.

“In fact, don’t ask me about the refereeing because I can’t answer the question.” pic.twitter.com/tXIVMUPX5R

— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) December 19, 2022