Power issue’ hits Microsoft Surface tablets during Monday Night Football, as teams revert to pen and paper

Photo via Microsoft.

Editor's note: This story has been revised to reflect questions about the cause of the issue.

Technology played an important role during Monday's NFL bout between Dallas and Washington — but not in a beneficial way for players and coaches.

During the first half of the Cowboys vs. Redskins matchup on national television Monday evening, the Microsoft Surface tablets that players and coaches use on the sidelines were rendered unusable due to an unexplained issue in the stadium.

ESPN commentator Mike Tirico said it was related to a power issue, forcing teams to go old school and fire up the paper printers. It's unclear if the problem was with the tablets themselves, or something else — we've reached out to the NFL and will update this post when we hear back.

Guess the Microsoft Surface tablets are not working – upgrade to iPads #NFL #MNF #DALvsWAS pic.twitter.com/v7tghCWYQY

— Vinny Carpenter (@vscarpenter) December 8, 2015

Microsoft paid the NFL $400 million to use Surface tablets on the sidelines, now they don't work.

— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) December 8, 2015

Not a good night for either offense or for Microsoft Surface.

— Christopher T. Lemay (@TheCrittaC) December 8, 2015

I bet @microsoft loves the #mnf crew talking nonstop about how the surface tablets aren't working on the sidelines #productplacementfails

— Stephen Murphy (@stephencmurphy) December 8, 2015

Thanks to Microsoft's $400 million, five-year contract it inked with the NFL in 2013, players and coaches have had access to the custom-built Surface tablets for the past two seasons with an application that lets them be more efficient in how they review past plays. The idea is to replace the traditional printed paper black-and-white images of plays to analyze previous possessions, and instead use the waterproof tablets that allow for annotations on each photo with the Surface Pen.

The NFL introduced players and coaches to the Surface Pro 2 tablet last year, and this season Microsoft is upgrading the devices to a ruggedized, weatherproof version of its Surface Pro 3 tablet, which offers a bigger and thinner screen, lighter weight, clearer images, and a pen that can be used in four different colors.

Microsoft ran into a separate marketing issue during the first game of this season, when Al Michaels mistakenly called the Surface an "iPad" on national television. This seems to be a recurring problem for Microsoft — last season, commentators referred to the Surface as an "iPad-like tool." It happened on more than one occasion last season, with Trent Dilfer calling the tablet an iPad during a Monday Night game, too.

At the very least, Microsoft picked a pretty good game on Monday to have its tablets falter.

This crappy football game brought to you by the Microsoft Surface.

— Gene Demby (@GeeDee215) December 8, 2015

Not a good night for either offense or for Microsoft Surface.

— Christopher T. Lemay (@TheCrittaC) December 8, 2015

Source: Power issue' hits Microsoft Surface tablets during Monday Night Football, as teams revert to pen and paper