Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Entertainment
Madison Williams

NFL World Reacts to Controversial Call in NFC Championship Game

DeVonta Smith NFC Kyle Shanahan 49ers Eagles

The opening drive of Sunday’s NFC championship game between the Eagles and 49ers produced a controversial no-call on Philadelphia receiver DeVonta Smith.

On fourth and third, quarterback Jalen Hurts threw the ball 29 yards to Smith, who caught it with one hand for a supposed first down. Smith and Philadelphia then hurried to the line for the first-down play and soon scored a touchdown to go up 7–0. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t challenge Smith’s catch.

At first, fans praised Smith on social media for the incredible catch. However, the reaction changed once fans got a better look at the play after commercial break when the replay showed Smith not completely in control of the catch. 

Social media became a storm of debate as a majority of people agreed that Smith did not catch the ball. Then, fans began questioning why Shanahan didn’t challenge the catch on the crucial fourth-down play.

Here’s some of the reaction to the controversial no-call:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Supermassive black hole jets mysteriously ignite nova explosions, Hubble Telescope finds
Hubble Space Telescope observations suggest supermassive black hole jets double the frequency of nova explosions. But how?
Space
Space
Viral Photo Claims to Show College Student Chilling Out in Flooded Dorm After Hurricane Helene
The photo claiming to picture an Appalachian State University student has received more than 79,000 upvotes and thousands of comments.
Latin Times
Latin Times
“I would show him the lick. He's like, ‘Why don't you just play it? You sound just like me, anyway!’” Dweezil Zappa says he recorded Eddie Van Halen playing a “greatest hits guitar solo” at 5150 for an unreleased project – and had to give EVH pointers
The session was the result of an unreleased ‘audio movie’ concept of Zappa’s in which he envisioned solo contributions from Brian May and Angus Young
Guitar World
Guitar World
“I didn’t tell anybody when I started playing the guitar. Then I entered a talent contest and I played The Star-Spangled Banner with my teeth – and I won”: Why Steve Vai kept his guitar playing a secret when he first started
Vai didn't tell anyone when he began learning the guitar, but eventually announced his new-found fretboard abilities in quite spectacular style
Guitar World
Guitar World
Netflix fails to get Baby Reindeer lawsuit thrown out
Fiona Harvey is suing streaming giant over the portrayal of a stalker character in hit show
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Chucky creator has the most on-brand response to his horror TV show being canceled, and it sounds like we haven't seen the last of the killer doll
It’s not over for Chucky
Total Film
Total Film
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play