Not that it mattered in the end, as the Minnesota Vikings engineered the greatest comeback in NFL history in their 39-36 overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts, but the Vikings also had two fumble return touchdowns by cornerback Chandon Sullivan reversed in this game, and neither reversal made a lot of sense.
With 7:03 left in the first half, and the Colts already up 23-0, Indianapolis quarterback Matt Ryan threw a short pass to receiver Michael Pittman, who fumbled at the Indianapolis 40-yard line. At that point, cornerback Chandon Sullivan picked the ball up and rumbled for a touchdown.
Or so he thought. Referee Tra Blake ruled that Pittman’s forward progress had been stopped, negating the touchdown.
“The ruling on the field was that the runner’s forward progress had been stopped,” Blake told pool reporter Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune after the game. “Once he’s wrapped up by the defender and his forward progress is stopped, the play is over. So, any action that happens subsequently after that is nullified because the play is dead. That was the ruling on the field.”
Sounds good, except that’s not what happened. On the replay, you can see that Sullivan had Pittman in the grasp, Pittman was arching forward, trying to make extra yards, and it was the hit by linebacker Brian Asamoah that rocked Pittman back. Sullivan stripped the ball just after Pittman moved backward, so we don’t actually know whether Pittman would have kept trying to make additional yards were it not for that hit. If you want to argue that Asamoah’s hit stopped Pittman’s forward progress, that’s an entirely different matter.
There is also the small matter of when the whistle was blown, signifying a dead ball.
The official blew this dead after the ball came out. pic.twitter.com/wfHsbA30I8
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) December 18, 2022
“We see plays where running backs extend plays or plays not be blown as fast,” Scoggins asked Blake. “How do you determine when forward progress is? Is there a certain amount of time?
“Forward progress ends once the runner is not making progress towards his goal line any longer. Once we determine that, the play is over.”
Blake also confirmed that forward progress calls are not reviewable, for whatever nonsensical reason.
Sullivan’s bad luck with this particular crew was only beginning. With 3:28 left in regulation, Indy running back Deon Jackson clearly fumbled at his own 38-yard line. Sullivan picked the ball up, and appeared to score another return touchdown.
No dice, as Blake once again ruled against him. This time, the call was that Jackson was down by contact, which clearly wasn’t the case. Upon review, the Vikings were awarded the ball, but there was nothing to be done about the touchdown that should have counted and didn’t. The score was 36-28 Colts at that point, so Blake and his crew were pretty fortunate that the comeback that happened, happened.
This play should be a touchdown for Chandon Sullivan pic.twitter.com/coAnIdkwKC
— Sean Borman (@SeanBormanNFL) December 17, 2022
“The original ruling on the field was that the runner that was in the pile was down by contact,” NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Walt Anderson told Scoggins. “Subsequently, a Minnesota player got it back. We had a look and could tell right away that the runner was still up when the ball came loose. We had a good view that it was a clear recovery by Minnesota No. 39. But the ruling on the field was the runner was down by contact. There was a subsequent loose ball and then a recovery by Minnesota and an advance. Minnesota challenged that and by the time they challenged, we had good views. We had an expedited review to announce that it was a fumble, and we had a clear recovery. But all we could do was give Minnesota the ball at the spot of the recovery.
“It’s technically a dead ball when the officials rule that he’s down by contact. However, the replay rules do allow you to award the defense the ball if that recovery is clearly a fumble and if that recovery is in the immediate continuing action from when the ball comes loose. But you cannot give an advance.”
After the ruling, Sullivan was handed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike contact penalty for taking his helmet off and throwing it on the field, and who on earth could have blamed him?
This, Blake and his crew seemed to see unusually clearly.
“I could feel why he was so frustrated.,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said of Sullivan. “The first one, they just ruled forward progress stopped. When they do that, doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree with the call. It’s out of my hands at that point. I cannot challenge that. Then I was able to challenge the other one and get that ball out, get that ball back. Some of those stops defensively we had, we just kept on urging them to keep going at the football, see if we can change the game, which we thought we did at that one point, but unfortunately we didn’t. Sully is one of those guys that keeps battling. Veteran player, smart, tough. You don’t win a game like this and hold the team to three points in the second half without guys like Sully gutting it out.”
The NFL has discussed points of emphasis over the years regarding officials holding their whistles on fumbles they think aren’t fumbles to avoid this exact scenario, but we are where we are with that.
