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The Houston Texans had a 20-17 lead over the Indianapolis Colts with under two minutes to go in Thursday night’s primetime matchup and all they had to do to put the game away was figure out a way to hold onto the ball until the clock hit zero.
However, it looked like they did the one thing they weren’t supposed to do when DeShaun Watson appeared to fumble the ball after getting tackled by Darius Leonard before players on both teams scrambled to recover the pigskin.
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When the dust settled, officials ruled Watson had managed to recover the fumble much to the chagrin of the Colts, who were powerless to initiate a challenge due to the amount of time remaining in the game.
The Texans would call a timeout to give the refs even more time to review the play if they were so inclined but they ultimately declined to do so and Houston would avoid ripping any more brain farts before the contest ultimately came to a close.
After the game, Leonard implied that he’d come away with possession while talking to reporters about the situation.
Darius Leonard: “That was a fumble. I had it.”
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) November 22, 2019
Darius says Deshaun Watson actually told him on the field that he popped the ball out.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) November 22, 2019
After the game, the NFL’s officiating arm attempted to explain the situation by issuing a brief statement on Twitter that confirmed a fumble did occur but didn’t do much to quell the controversy surrounding the call.
In #INDvsHOU, officials on the field ruled a fumble recovered by the offense. There was no clear visual evidence of a recovery by the defense.
— NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) November 22, 2019
Based on the angles that were initially available on the broadcast, it’s unclear if there would have been enough video evidence to overturn the ruling on the field but there’s really no rational explanation as to why the refs didn’t at least take a couple of minutes to take a second look at what could have been a game-changing play.
Do better, NFL. Do better.