It’s hard to keep track of which turnover mattered the most in a game when both quarterbacks turned the ball over twice. But there was one fumble from the Dallas Cowboys’ 28-14 loss to the Tennessee Titans that stood out because it confused the hell out of all of us.
Why did the Titans get to recover this Cowboys’ fumble AFTER the refs blew their whistle?
Refs had a choice to make. They could either stick with the whistle they blew or call Dak Prescott’s fumble.
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Here’s the setup. The second half started notched up, 14-14. Dallas’ first possession of the third quarter is off to a good start after a 20-yard gain on a pass from Dak Prescott to Michael Gallup gives them a new set of downs.
But then a little of that ol’ Cowboys magic settled in, a holding penalty on first down pushed them back to their own 35-yard line on first-and-20. They gained back 12 of the 20 yards they needed to give them a third-and-8, but a yet another penalty, a false start, made it third-and-13 at 9:09 on the clock.
Titans linebacker Jayon Brown beat his man, got to Prescott and brought him down. AS he did, Prescott fumbled the ball.
At the same time as the fumble was occurring, the referee blew the whistle, blowing the play dead.
So should it have been a fumble, which is how the refs ended up ruling it, or a dead ball on a sack for a loss of eight yards?
Blowing the whistle, even if inadvertently, is supposed to be a dead ball. Per the NFL rulebook:
... when an official sounds the whistle erroneously while the ball is still in play, the ball becomes dead immediately.
But the fumble, and the Titans’ recovery, stood:
Former referee Terry McAulay said one referee blew the whistle because he thought Prescott was down, which he wasn’t. The officiating crew stuck with the play on the field, which was one of two options available to them.
Because the referee ruled Prescott down by contact, the call would’ve been reviewable. That would not been the case if it had been forward progress.
Even if the refs had not ignored the whistle and stood by the call that Prescott was down by contact (or, you know, actually have taken the time to review it) the Cowboys still would have been forced to punt. The eight-yard loss would have put them at an impossible fourth-and-21 deep inside their own side of the field.
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However, that outcome would have been slightly better than what happened. The potential difference in yardage from a punt that would have most likely given the Titans more distance and maybe a better chance for the Cowboys’ defense to prevent a score.
Instead, Tennessee got the ball at the Cowboys’ 40-yard line, great field position. Seven plays and just over three minutes of clock time later, they scored the go-ahead touchdown that would prove to be the game-winner.
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