SkyCam died and it delayed Bills-Jets for over 10 minutes

SkyCam filmed its last play in MetLife on Sunday afternoon. Rest in peace.

Delays in some sports are more common than others. Baseball games are delayed by weather all the time, same with motorsports. Then there are sports with weird delays, like unexplained wet courts in the NBA.

Save for injury circumstances, the NFL rarely is delayed for all that long, but on Sunday we had one of those weird ones in New Jersey at MetLife Stadium between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.

A SkyCam wire snapped and the camera became unable to lift out of the area where a thrown football might hit it.

For over ten minutes crews worked to get SkyCam off the field of play in order to address the situation.

Jets momentum stunted by SkyCam delay, turnover follows

After the game came back, the Jets continued their drive. Closing in on the red zibe, quarterback Zach Wilson ended up fumbling the ball and the Bills took over. Some fans called shenanigans:

The Jets’ social media team even got in on the fun:

If you’re thinking to yourself, “boy, I bet that hasn’t happened before,” well, think again. In 2020 SkyCam fell to the field in New Orleans during a game between the Vikings and Saints. The delay then was just five minutes.

For what it’s worth, SkyCam weighs 45 pounds according to WSN, and would probably seriously hurt someone if it fell on a person. Does anyone know why we still use this if these issues are somewhat frequent over the last few years?