ICYMI: The Best NFL Stories You Missed From Week 5

"OOPS," SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN

Though few noticed in real time, the waning minutes of Week 5's Monday Night Football waned a little faster than they should have—and side judge Rob Vernatchi is getting a stunningly rare punishment.

It's right there in the official play-by-play:

San Diego Chargers kicker Josh Lambo's field goal goes through at 3:01, his kickoff takes place at 2:56, and the Steelers' offensive drive starts at 2:38. So what happened in between?

The Qualcomm Stadium clock operator re-started the game clock well before the Steelers actually snapped the ball, depriving them of 18 precious seconds. This cannot be understated: the home team's stadium operator drained 18 seconds off the clock right before the visitors mounted what would be a game-winning drive.

Time ran out when Le'Veon Bell was stopped one yard shy of victory. He ultimately willed himself into the end zone on his second effort, but that didn't negate the enormous timekeeping mistake—enclose that word in scare quotes at your discretion—at the beginning of the drive.

This is on the stadium timekeeper, but as the NFL's official statement noted, "it is the responsibility of the side judge to supervise the timing of the game." Vernatchi didn't catch it, and so he's been suspended for one week with pay.

According to FootballZebras.com, this is the first time since 1988 an official has been suspended for blowing a call, and it's only the seventh time in NFL history an officiating incident has resulted in a suspension.

But, wait, the plot gets even thicker! Thursday night, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported the league will be interviewing Vernatchi, in what could be the initial phase of a Deflategate-esque investigation.

In case you missed it live on Monday night, or during midweek chatter of nerdier NFL circles or during Florio's Thursday-night report, don't worry: not only are you up to speed now; you might not be able to get away from this story over the coming weeks.

THE NFL IS A FLAT CIRCLE

The Detroit Lions had lost their superstar defensive tackle in the offseason, and there was much concern about their talented-on-paper-but-perennially-underperforming offense. Nevertheless, Lions fans' hopes were buoyed by an excellent preseason performance. If the Lions were to backslide, it didn't figure to be far.

That was 2008, when defensive tackle Cory Redding was expected to step up and replace Shaun Rogers. Redding, drafted by notorious ex-executive Matt Millen back in 2003, had just been extended by Millen with the biggest defensive-tackle contract in NFL history.

Redding wasn't up to the task of replacing Rogers, and the Lions, even with the help of rookie Calvin Johnson, didn't win a single game. Nearly everyone from Millen on down was fired, and the franchise rebooted around 2009 No. 1 overall pick Matthew Stafford.

Fast forward to 2015, and the Lions again find themselves winless after letting a Pro Bowl defensive tackle leave. Like 2008, a small anticipated backslide became an avalanche of regression, putting the Lions in a must-win situation during Week 6.

You know it was a disaster, a 42-17 overrunning that will be remembered as Lions head coach Jim Caldwell's Waterloo. You may have heard that by the end, after Stafford's benching, Lions backup Dan Orlovsky—who cost the 2008 Lions their best chance at victory when he rolled out of his own endzone—led the hopeless comeback attempt against former Lions backup Drew Stanton, who as a second-round rookie in 2008 was very briefly the Lions' quarterback of the future.

But you probably didn't know it was the 35-year-old Redding—once the high-priced anchor of arguably the worst defense in NFL history, playing a rotational role for his fourth team in seven years hence—who singlehandedly laid the Lions low (again):

Cory Redding (6'4'', 318 lbs) makes a 1-handed pick and only has Matt Stafford in his wayStafford got'em! #AZvsDEThttp://t.co/hwD42AtTLm
— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2015

WHO'S THAT MAN?

One of the few things NFL fans and media love as much as a rookie sensation is loving to hate a rookie bust. When a first-rounder is obviously poor, or abjectly unproductive, the wolves begin circling almost immediately. By the end of the year, their prey has been torn to shreds.

Somehow, Barkevious Mingo has given the hounds the slip. The 2013 No. 6 overall pick—a notable bust even by the standards of that wretched top ten class—had all the indicators. He was an impact defender for LSU from the moment he stepped on the field, making the All-SEC Freshman squad.

And, when he turned pro, he lit up stopwatches at the 2013 NFL combine. At 6'4", 241 pounds, Mingo ran a 4.58-second 40-yard dash, leaped an insane 37 vertical inches, broad-jumped 128" from a standstill and burned through the three-cone drill with a 6.84 time that would make many defensive backs blush.

Through three seasons, Mingo has just 16 starts and seven sacks. As Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal reported, a healthy Mingo played just four of 70 snaps in Week 5:

Look at how those #Browns LB snap counts have changed from Week 1 to Week 5. Coaching staff searching for spark. pic.twitter.com/sF6m0vJneb
— Nate Ulrich (@NateUlrichABJ) October 12, 2015

But look who got more reps than any other linebacker: Nate Orchard.

A who's-that-guy second-round rookie out of Utah, Orchard wasn't named a "Top Performer" in any combine drill this spring. His numbers—4.80, 31.5, 115, and 7.28—are across-the-board awful in comparison. He had just one productive season for a mid-tier Pac-12 school. Yet Browns coaches are turning to Orchard to provide a spark.

Orchard got his first start in Week 5, leaving Mingo to field postgame questions about whether he'd demand a trade.

Of course, the only thing fans and media obsess over even more than a first-round stud or a first-round bust: A gritty, scrappy underdog winning the day. If Orchard can succeed where Mingo couldn't, he won't slip under the radar much longer.