Here it is. The Calvin Johnson touchdown catch that was ruled a touchdown on the field by the referee in the picture and then overturned (in fact, it was overturned on the field, reviewed, and the second on-field call was upheld — no touchdown).
Everyone’s citing the NFL rule as the fault here, not the ultimate call:
The rule in question states, “If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete.”
The rule is actually being misinterpreted here. Calvin had control of the ball the entire time – from the time he first snagged it mid-air, to the time his butt hit the ground. The rule says that if he loses control prior to the ball touching the ground, it’s incomplete. But he had control prior to the ball touching the ground when he used the ball to break his fall, therefore “the pass is complete.”
Lions should be 1-0, or at least up 20-19 with a two-point conversion on the way with 24 seconds left. Instead, Lions fans like me just want to eat a tube of cookie dough and cry mercilessly:
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