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NFL Referees Rig Fumble Recovery Touchdown Against New Orleans Saints With Bogus Incomplete Pass Rule

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Jared Goff Fumble New Orleans Saints Incomplete Pass Why Chase Young Lions Touchdown NFL Rules
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The New Orleans Saints defense appeared to a fumble and scored a touchdown during the first half of Sunday’s NFL game against the Detroit Lions. It was ruled an incomplete pass because Jared Goff was trying to throw it forward.

That is the real explanation from the officials.

Not even NFL experts knew this was a rule. The Saints were on the wrong end of a bogus officiating decision.

Jared Goff appeared to fumble.

This unusual sequence of events took place with approximately nine minutes and 30 second remaining in the second quarter. The Detroit Lions had the ball on 3rd-and-16 from their own 32-yard-line.

Jared Goff dropped back to pass out of the shotgun and looked downfield. Meanwhile, Chase Young beat the left tackle around the blindside. The quarterback never saw him coming. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive end blew him up.

As Young brought Goff to the ground, the ball went flying out of his hand. It very clearly landed behind the line of scrimmage and bounced all of the way down to the 12-yard-line. Tight end Sam LaPorta and defensive end Carl Granderson converged on the loose ball. Neither of them could field it cleanly.

While LaPorta and Granderson continued to wrestle, safety Jonas Sanker ran in to scoop up the loose ball in stride. He took it to the end zone for a Saints touchdown. Here is how it looked in real time:

Everybody saw it with their eyes. Young forced a fumble. Sanker picked it up. New Orleans returned the fumble for a touchdown.

The NFL saw it differently. Officials reviewed the play and took the points off of the board.

The New Orleans Saints did not score a touchdown and the pass was ruled incomplete.

Here is another look at the scoop-and-score: (sound warning)

It was pretty obvious that the ball was released from Jared Goff’s hand before he was down by contact and before he turned his arm over to throw down field. That should be a fumble, right? WRONG!

The fumble was ruled as an incomplete pass, not a fumble. The touchdown did not count. Here is Mike Pereira’s explanation:

NFL officials ruled that because the quarterback intended to throw the ball forward, it was an incompletion. He had already started his throwing motion so the pass was incomplete. I am just as confused as you are. So is NFL inside Mike Garafolo.

“I was Week 1 2026 years old when I learned a quarterback’s intention to throw the ball forward can turn this into an incompletion. I … don’t get it.”

Was this the right call? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!