The Chiefs think the officials cost them the game Sunday in Arizona with some questionable calls, including a Travis Kelce fumble. But the NFL’s head of officiating says that was the right call.
Dean Blandino said on NFL Network this morning that Kelce lost the ball before going to the ground, that he never re-gained possession, and that the Cardinals clearly recovered before the officials on the field blew the play dead.
“The ball was loose before he hit the ground, and then the question was, Did he re-gain control of it as he was rolling over? And this is treated just like a pass,” Blandino said. “So if you fumble and the ball is loose, in order to re-gain possession, you have to maintain control as you go to the ground. And as you watch the play, you see Kelce never re-gained control of it. He’s bobbling the ball, he rolls over, it comes completely loose and then Arizona recovers it. So it was a fumble and properly overturned on replay.”
Blandino said the process of recovering a fumble needs to be completed, the same way the process of making a catch needs to be completed. And Kelce, although he did grab his own fumble briefly, didn’t maintain control.
“Think of it as a process, like a catch,” Blandino said. “So as he’s going to the ground he has to maintain control when he lands. And he didn’t maintain control throughout that entire act of rolling over -- he was bobbling it. So if it had been a catch situation that would have been an incomplete pass. So you look at it the same way. It’s a fumble.”
It was a costly fumble for the Chiefs, but a good call according to the league.
