NEW YORK — In a rare admission of discipline for game officials, the NFL has suspended a side judge and moved a back judge off a prime-time game.

The NFL suspended side judge Rob Vernatchi for one game for not managing the clock properly in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh’s game at San Diego on Monday night. After a kickoff that was not returned, 18 seconds ran off the clock. The side judge is in charge of monitoring the game clock, which is kept on the stadium scoreboard.

Vernatchi “will not officiate in Week 6 as a result of the failure to notice that the game clock was incorrectly started,” league spokesman Michael Signora said Thursday. Signora added Vernatchi is being taken off the field for one week and then will return to referee Pete Morelli’s crew.