Thursday night’s instant classic had a little bit of everything. Including something we’d never seen before.
But while the activation of replay review to turn a failed two-point conversion into a successful one was unprecedented, the basic components of the play are well known, or should be.
It started with the incomplete forward pass becoming, after further review, a backward pass. It culminated in a loose ball being nonchalantly picked up in the end zone by Seahawks running back Zach Charbonnet, as if it were a wadded up piece of paper that didn’t make it into the trash can.
Every coach, and in turn every player, should know the rule. Every coach, and in turn every player, should understand that, if there’s even the slightest sliver of doubt, every loose ball should be regarded as a live ball.
It does not matter if the whistle blows. The rulebook is clear on that point. From the provision regarding replay review: “When the on-field ruling results in a dead ball (e.g., score, down by contact, incomplete pass, etc.), and following replay review it is determined that possession was lost before the ball should have been ruled dead, possession may be awarded to a player who clearly recovers a loose ball in the immediate continuing action.”
In other words, that dead ball possibly isn’t. The blowing of the whistle doesn’t matter. If it’s subsequently determined that the ball was fumbled (or passed backward) and then recovered as part of the “immediate continuing action,” the ball has been resurrected.
The rulebook expanded to allow post-whistle “continuing action” after a 2008 Chargers-Broncos game exposed a glaring flaw. A fumble by Denver quarterback Jay Cutler was ruled on the field to be an incomplete pass. Replay review determined otherwise. However, because the whistle had blown, the Broncos retained possession at the spot where the ball hit the ground — even though the Chargers clearly recovered it.
The following offseason, the rule was changed to allow post-whistle “continuing action,” during which (for example) an erroneous ruling on the field of incomplete pass is converted via replay to a fumble (or backward pass), and the ball is clearly recovered by one team or the other in the continuing action. (By the way, the Broncos scored a touchdown later on that same drive, went for two, converted, and won the game not by the score of 38-37 but by the score of 39-38.)
Also, and in response to those who have raised a very good question about the intersection between the two-point recovery by Charbonnet and the rule that prevents a teammate from recovering and/or advancing a fumble on fourth down, after the two-minute warning, or during a try, a different rule applies to a backward pass: “Players of either team may advance after catching a backward pass, or recovering a backward pass after it touches the ground.”
Bottom line, and to quote one of the songs that played last night on the way to break by Prime Video, whenever a player from either team sees a loose ball after the whistle has blown, JUMP ON IT.
