So, why wasn’t Adam Thielen’s touchdown catch in the second quarter of the Carolina Panthers’ Week 13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers actually ruled a touchdown catch? Well, the NFL did not have the facilities for that, big man.
With the first half of Sunday’s NFC South showdown winding down, quarterback Bryce Young zipped one heck of a ball into the end zone and right into hands of his top receiver. And although Thielen couldn’t make the cleanest of catches initially, he certainly appeared to complete the connection and get both his knee and his elbow down in the field of play . . .
This is a Touchdown catch by Adam Thielen.
Ruled incomplete initially, but currently under review.#KeepPounding #NFL #TBvsCAR pic.twitter.com/qo6kw4g405
— Blego (@BlegoBro) December 1, 2024
Nevertheless, and to the shock and dismay of many, the referees ruled the play as an incompletion—even with the help of a replay review.
That replay review, however, didn’t seem to help the officials much.
Here, courtesy of The Athletic‘s Joe Person, is what NFL replay executive Mark Butterworth said about the call afterwards:
Transcript of pool report w/ replay exec Mark Butterworth, who noted there weren’t as many cameras at this game as others. pic.twitter.com/a36R7FU3m7
— Joe Person (@josephperson) December 2, 2024
The ruling resulted in a fourth-and-3 for the Panthers, who settled for three points on a field goal instead of six, seven or eight on a touchdown.
Considering the game went to overtime and was decided by three points on a walk-off field goal by the Buccaneers, that’s a pretty important play not to have enough cameras for.
