We’ll obviously be talking about the unfortunate lateral attempt from New England Patriots receiver Jakobi Meyers to quarterback Mac Jones, and Las Vegas Raiders edge-rusher Chandler Jones’ game-winning recovery of said lateral, for years. It was one of the more bat-crazy endings to a game in NFL history.
But the touchdown that tied the game at 24 with 32 seconds left is worthy of equal scrutiny. That’s when Raiders quarterback Derek Carr threw what looked like a great 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver Keelan Cole. Referee Ron Torbert ruled that it was a catch, and after a long review and communication with the NFL’s command center, and VP of Officiating Walt Anderson, the call was upheld.
In #NEvsLV, the ruling on the field was a touchdown. After review, there was no clear and obvious visual evidence to overturn the on-field ruling. pic.twitter.com/dFJag9y7rA
— NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) December 19, 2022
In such a review, you’re looking for a few things. You’re looking for any clear and obvious angle showing that the receiver was out of bounds. Perhaps if there was an overhead view which confirmed that Cole’s left toe didn’t come in, in bounds…
Huh.
Or, perhaps if there was video evidence that Cole’s foot hit the boundary… say, chalk flying up in the air.
Oh. As John McEnroe used to like to say in his tantrums directed at tennis officials, “Chalk flew up!”
Still, per pool reporter Mike Reiss of ESPN, Anderson insisted that “We looked at every available angle and it was not clear and obvious that the foot was on the white. It was very tight, very close. There was no shot that we could see – we even enhanced and blew up the views that we had. There was nothing that was clear and obvious that his foot was touching the white.”
Well, if Anderson and his crew at Command Central had simply taken a look at the multiple replays from FOX Sports, they would have found one angle that made it clear and obvious.
“Well, this is really close,” FOX rules analyst and former VP of Officiating Dean Blandino said on the telecast. “The whole thing is the left foot, and is any part of that left foot touching the sideline? The best look we have is that overhead end zone shot. This is the best look. He has control, he’s going to get the right foot in bounds. It looks like the left toe is out of bounds in this shot. It has to be clear and obvious to overturn. If I’m looking at this, I see it out of bounds, but we’ll see what New York does in this situation.”
Anderson also said that he didn’t have a “down the sideline” view to aid in the review.
“No, we did not. Probably the best view was what we term a ‘high end zone’ view. TV gave us the most enhanced view that they had as well. We blew it up and I believe TV blew it up and there was nothing that was clear and obvious either way. Had the ruling on the field been incomplete, we would not have been able to change that either.”
So, the same high end zone view that showed Cole’s left foot just out of bounds was not enough to overturn.
“I mean, I obviously saw him catch the ball,” Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels said after the game. “I think the biggest thing they were trying to determine was, was there really a clear angle that you can say without a shadow of a doubt that has to be overturned. And usually when they call it a touchdown and it takes that long, if you’re the team that wants it to be a touchdown, that’s usually a good sign. So, I think they were struggling with trying to determine whether or not his toe was actually on the white or did his foot hit and then eventually got to the white, or did it not hit the white. So, they just said it was inconclusive and so they left it up.”
When Carr was asked about it, he revisited the “Tuck Rule” game.
“I mean, I was like, ‘A Patriot-Raider game ending in a review.’ I remember a lot of things. I remember I was in Bakersfield, California, it’s nighttime and I was watching Charles Woodson strip the ball from Tom Brady. And I don’t know how old I was, but I was sitting there with my dad watching the game. I remember my rookie year, we go down on a two-minute drive, we run in the end zone and all sudden there’s a flag. The next play, I throw it to my receiver, checking it down, it bounces and Vince Wilfork picks it. I’m just like, ‘Can we please just have one go our way.’ And when they showed that one view where you saw his [Keelan Cole’s] cleat hit the grass, and then his foot went down, you’re like, ‘Oh.’ We started going nuts. And then the ref next to us said, ‘Touchdown.’ And we went nuts.”
Had the catch been overturned as it should have been, the Raiders would have had third-and-10 at the New England 30-yard line, and time for a few more shots at the end zone. Maybe they score that touchdown anyway, in a more legitimate fashion. But that, we’ll never know.
