We STILL can’t tell if the Saints got robbed on the Broncos’ blocked XP return

The New Orleans Saints scored a late-game touchdown to tie things up with the Denver Broncos, 23-23, but Wil Lutz’ extra point attempt was blocked. The Broncos’ Will Parks recovered it and and ran it back for two points, giving the Broncos what they thought was a two-point advantage over the Saints.

Officials reviewed the play to determine if Parks stepped out, and it really looked like he had.

The angle may be a bit deceiving, but it certainly looks like Parks’ foot is awfully close to being out of bounds.

There’s no visible green between Parks’ white shoe and the white edge of the field. But it’s just too hard to tell. Take another look at it from behind.

Still impossible to tell.

Still, after replay the play was upheld, and the Broncos won with a final score of 25-23. The Broncos improve to 7-3 and the Saints fall to 4-5.

There’s another fun fact about this play, a wrinkle in the rule book that a lot of people probably didn’t know about.

Justin Simmons leaps over the snapper, it’s perfectly legal. He didn’t use his arms or hands, he didn’t land on anyone and he didn’t make contact at all.

We saw this recently when Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wager leapt over the Cardinals long snapper to block a kick in Week 7. Cardinals coach Bruce Arians called the play “bullshit” and said it should be illegal. But it’s not.

Arians probably wouldn’t like what Jared Crick does on this play, and it will surprise you to know that it’s perfectly legal too. Crick gets his hands on the snapper and pushed him toward the ground, which helps Simmons jump over him. As NFL VP of officiating Dean Blandino explains in the video below, that too is acceptable.

But the key part here is still that it was impossible for the officials to tell whether or not Parks went out of bounds as he returned the ball to his own end zone.

“It looks like the foot could be out, but you just can’t tell,” Blandino said.

“It’s important to remember in replay, we’re not re-officiating the play,” Blandino said. “If it’s not an obvious mistake, then the call on the field must stand.”