Officials appear to have missed key point on Moats' fumble call

http://www.examiner.com/x-778-Houst...to-have-missed-key-point-on-Moats-fumble-call

One of the most controversial plays in yesterday's Texans-Colts game was the Ryan Moats fumble near the Colts goal line just before the two minute warning in the first half.

The Texans were down 13-0 but had driven to the Colts 10 yard line. On 1st and goal at the 10, Matt Schaub took the snap with the clock at 2;30 and threw a quick out to Moats who caught the ball at the 8 and headed toward the corner of the endzone.

Moats was hit at the 3 yard line by Colts defender Antoine Bethea (#41) and both players hit the ground and rolled out of bounds at the 2 yard line.

Moats, however, lost control of the ball before he hit the ground. The ball, which stayed in bounds as Moats' and Bethea's momentum carried them out of bounds, rolled toward the endzone and was picked up by another Colts defender, Jerraud Powers (#25) who was trailing on the play.

As Bethea tackled Moats, Powers' momentum carried him out of bounds as well, but when Powers saw the loose ball, he hopped back in bounds and picked up the ball which was laying on the goal line.

The officials blew the play dead at 2:24 based on the observation that Moats was out of bounds. Bethea got up and could be seen saying something to the officials - such as 'that was a fumble.'

The CBS broadcast showed two quick replays and on the second one, color analyst Solomon Wilcots suggested that Moats fumbled while in bounds.

The next thing we see on the broadcast was the Texans were lined up at the 1 1/2 yard line ready to run a play on 2nd and goal. The clock, now re-started since it was still outside of two minutes, was rolling at 2:14. At about 2:08 you can see Schaub get the message in the helmet to let the clock run to the 2:00 warning.

I wrote yesterday how the Texans coaching staff blew it by not running a play at that point and eliminating the possibility of a replay reversal.

At his press conference today, Kubiak stated that they weren't aware of a potential issue.

"Well, I think hindsight obviously is 20-20; we'd like to have done something. I know that we didn't think there was an issue there," said Kubiak. "We thought he was out of bounds, we were moving forward. I can't speak for the Colts, but I'm not sure they knew there was an issue there, neither, until we got to the two-minute warning."

As I said in yesterday's entry, anyone watching the CBS broadcast was aware of a potential issue the minute they showed the first replay just before the wound the clock at 2:24. Wilcots was all over it. I won't go there again,

Then of course once the 2:00 warning hit, everyone was all over it, including Colts head coach Jim Caldwell who challenged the play coming out of the 2:00 warning.

Texans fans worst fears were realized as the officials confirmed it was a fumble in bounds, but their attention then focused on the player who recovered the ball (Powers) and his position on the field.

The officials ruled the play a touchback because Powers touched the ball as it was laying on the goal line before he fully re-established in bounds with two feet down (the official explained that he had only one foot down when he touched the ball). The ruling would be the same as the recovery of a loose ball at the back or side of the endzone by a player who has a foot out of bounds. Verdict: Touchback - Colts ball at the 20. And seemingly the right call.

But here's what the officials missed that should have made Powers' recovery of the fumble a moot point. The loose ball contacted Bethea's left arm while Bethea was out of bounds at the 2 - meaning it should have been a dead ball there, right? And whatever happened after that should have been irrelevant, right? [ I'm checking on the rule with someone who knows]

Here's a photo I posted yesterday by (AP/Tom Strattman). As you can see, the ball is already out. Moats wasn't down and is still in bounds because he's laying on Bethea who's in the process of rolling out of bounds at the 2 yard line. Also notice that Bethea's left forearm is in contact with the ball when it's loose and that Bethea appears to be on or very close to the sideline. The only problem is that it was difficult to tell from this angle whether Bethea was really out of bounds.



So I went back and reviewed my DVR about 100 times and was able to capture from the CBS broadcast the following image from the opposite angle at the precise time that Strattman shot the photo above. And if there are any Zapruder conspiracy theorists out there who doubt the images are from the exact moment in time, check out the position of Moats' feet, the position of the ball on his left wrist, the position of Bethea's left leg and the angle of Bethea's back to the ground.



The lower image clearly shows that Bethea's right leg was out of bounds while in contact with the loose ball at the moment the upper photo was taken. Bethea's right elbow (that fuzzy black spot - he was wearing a large pad on his elbow) was also on the white line. In the milliseconds after this screen capture - and as Bethea is even further out of bounds - you can see Bethea's left arm move backward and push the ball toward the goal line where Powers (25) was waiting.

During his presser today, Kubiak said that the Texans have contacted the league regarding the call.

"We basically filed our report," said Kubiak. "The bottom line, (the officials said) that the ball was not touched by anybody who was out of bounds. Or if it was, it was only touched by Ryan (Moats), who was on top of another player. We thought looking at it that 41 (DB Antoine Bethea) is touching the ball and he's out of bounds. So we'll hear back from them."

It will be interesting to see if the clarification (if any) is made public. You can bet I'll be watching NFL Network Wednesday evening to see if Mike Pereira addresses this on his Official Review segment. Of course there's nothing anyone can do now, but it would be nice to hear an official explanation of the call - and possibly an admission of what might have been missed.

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Makes me understand Kubiak's call of not snapping the ball.

 

Its like the Football gods gave us the UH win Sat night and took the Texans win as compensation.

 

I was thinking the same thing but once he got back in bounce and recovered the ball the play is dead since the refs blew the whistle, so since he grabbed it at the goalline that was it stopped and thus the touchback. The refs got almost everything right except THE BALL WAS OUT OF BOUNCE!!!