Texans’ winning touchdown should not have counted

The Houston Texans benefitted from a huge officiating mistake in their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, and it may have propelled them to a victory.

Will Fuller and Deshaun Watson hooked up for a 77-yard touchdown in the third quarter that gave Houston a 27-16 lead in their eventual 27-25 win. Assuming the play clock was correct, the play should have been whistled dead for delay of game. Houston snapped the ball roughly four seconds after the play clock hit zero.

Ball is snapped a good three seconds after play clock hits zero…Play on… and Deshaun Watson throws a 77-yard TD to Will Fuller #HOUvsJAX pic.twitter.com/ELiELnX45r

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) November 8, 2020

CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore said he understood why Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone was furious. Unless there was some sort of mishap with the play clock that the NFL can explain, there is no way the Texans should have gotten that snap off. We often see officials give the offense about a second of leeway before throwing a flag, but several seconds passed between the clock hitting zero and the ball being snapped.

The Jaguars scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to cut Houston’s lead to 27-25, but they were unable to add a two-point conversion to tie the game. Had the Texans been flagged for delay of game on the Fuller touchdown, the game may have looked a lot different.

That was not the only major officiating mistake on Sunday that may have impacted the outcome of a game. The Baltimore Ravens also caught a huge break when this call was somehow overturned.