Carson Wentz almost scored to level up the Eagles’ Sunday Night Football matchup against the Seahawks. Instead, the ball came out before he crossed the plane.
Carson Wentz’s fumble out of end zone bounced every which way to give the Seahawks a touchback
This did not go the way the Eagles planned.
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
The ball bounced all over the place, and eventually went out the back of the end zone for a Seahawks touchback.
You can clearly see the ball is out before Wentz crosses the plane.
If a fumble goes out of bounds at any other point on the field, possession reverts to the team that fumbled. A fumble out of the end zone is the only time a fumbled ball can go out of bounds and possession will change.
This isn’t Seattle’s first fumble-in-the-end-zone-touchback rodeo. They did it earlier this season, in Week 5 against the Rams. The Seahawks had a Calvin Johnson end zone fumble ruled a touchback in their favor during the 2015 season because officials missed an illegal batting call on K.J. Wright.
Lions fans did not enjoy reliving that memory with Wentz’s fumble.
The Bears got burned by this rule in Week 10 because John Fox foolishly threw a challenge play on what he thought should have been ruled a touchdown. Officials originally reviewed Benny Cunningham down at the 2-yard line. The review showed that Cunningham fumbled into the end zone, which meant a touchback for Green Bay.
The Seahawks held on to their lead and got the ball back. Seattle managed to turn that opportunity into more points. They scored on that possession to take a 17-3 lead.
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