The Patriots-Vikings game on Thursday night doesn’t count.
Hunter Henry appeared to have scored a goal as he gained possession of the ball and dashed to the goal line in third place and goal. The ball shifted in his hand after he hit the ground and in replay the game was overturned. Incomplete.
“I believe I caught it. [The referee] said it fell to the ground. But I believe my hand was under the ball,” Henry said after the game.h/t ESPN)
Chief executive Walt Anderson’s excuse for a reversed call can make one’s head spin.
“He’s got the two-footed elements and the ability to control, but since he’s going to land he has to maintain possession,” Anderson said. (h/t ESPN)
The NFL has been around for 102 years and somehow still can’t figure out what a catch is.
It doesn’t help that the tournament has different rules depending on how the game is played. During running turns, the ground cannot cause fumbling – as long as the player hits the ground after being dealt. If he falls on his own, it’s fair game.
The NFL uses a completely different approach to passing innings, in which the ground can cause a miss even if a player has control of the ball before the ground starts play.
Worse still, in Henry’s overturned TD, the ball clearly crossed the line before officials deemed that to be the cause of the unfinished situation. In most cases, once the ball crosses the line, play is immediately over and a touchdown is called.
No team has had as much luck as this year’s Viking team. Despite adding seven in the all-important win-lose column (9-2), the team only added five in points difference (262-257). They basically won a playoff spot with seven weeks left in the season; Minnesota is leading second place Detroit (4-7) by five games.
New England (6-5) dropped the Jets half way to the final in the AFC East. The Patriots are 37 points ahead of their opponents (239-202) this season.
As important as being good is, luck is even more important. The Vikings were good enough to run away from their division and lucky enough to be a Super Bowl threat.
