The biggest takeaway from Thursday night’s unprecedented two-point craziness was obvious: If you see a loose ball, pick it up.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, whose team now controls its path to the No. 1 seed thanks to Seattle’s unlikely overtime win over the Rams, was asked by reporters on Saturday whether he has talked about it with his team.
“Yeah, we actually did today,” Shanahan said. “I remember when I first got in the league, and I think we scrimmaged New Orleans and there were just obvious incompletions on the ground and defensive guys were running and jumping on it. I remember how much I used to make fun of them for it because I’m like, ‘Don’t they know that’s incomplete?’ But then it was actually Denver versus the Chargers. Jay Cutler fumbled a ball on a pass. They blew a whistle and the Chargers recovered it and the game should have been over, there was like a minute left. Denver was down seven. But, because they blew the whistle, they weren’t allowed to give it to the Chargers. And since that day they realized that, even if you blow the whistle, you get [the ball] if someone recovered it. So, since that day everyone’s been coaching, ‘Hey, if that ball’s on the ground, grab it.’ The two-point conversion was one that seemed a little bit over the top because it didn’t look obvious to anybody that that was the case. But, someone had a habit of grabbing it and it ended up probably helping them win the game. Not probably, it did.”
The someone in this case was Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet. He has explained that he had no idea the ball was still live, but he has a habit of always picking it up.
The rule comes from a change that was made in the offseason after the 2008 Chargers-Broncos game to which Shanahan referred. Previously, the ruling of an incomplete pass couldn’t result in replay review awarding the ball at the spot of the recovery to either team; the ball was dead where it hit the ground. Since 2009, if the recovery is clear, the play ends where the ball was recovered. Even if the whistle has blown.
Before Thursday night, it was generally known to go get the ball. After Thursday night, it should be something that every coach teaches — and that every player executes.
