The NFL has spoken out about an officiating mistake during Washington Redskins defeat to New York Giants, saying that the game should've been stopped to prevent a miscommunication between the officials and the teams.

Redskins were seven down and thought they'd received a call for first downs, with the stakes being set incorrectly by the sideline officials. However, having made their play and failed, the referee called for fourth downs.

"In this situation where there is obvious confusion as to the status of the down, play should have been stopped prior to third down and the correct down communicated to both clubs," read an NFL statement.

"This should have occurred regardless of the fact that Washington had no timeouts and it was inside two minutes."

The Redskins went on to lose the game and officially miss out on playoff contention. It is unclear whether any of the officials involved will be fined for their mistakes on Sunday.