The referees made a bad call by determining Julius Thomas fumbled in the second quarter of the San Diego Chargers-Denver Broncos playoff game on Sunday, but luckily the call didn’t hurt the Broncos on the scoreboard.
Denver had a 3rd-and-2 at midfield and Peyton Manning threw to Thomas. Thomas seemed to be bobbling the ball and never really had control, but the calling on the field was reception and fumble because he was stripped. After reviewing the play, the referees said the ruling on the field would stand.
Play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz laid out the three options for the call: incompletion, catch and down by contact, or reception and fumble. Very few people thought that they would call it a fumble, because it either looked like an incompletion or that Thomas was down before being stripped. But in what seemed to be a “ball don’t lie” type of twist, Chargers kicker Nick Novak slipped and missed on his 53-yard field goal attempt.
GIF via GIFD Sports
