Most Exciting Play Ever Immediately Placed Under Review

NASHVILLE, TN--One of the most exciting plays in the history of the NFL occurred during the waning moments of Sunday’s Titans-Raiders game, and was immediately placed under review by replay officials. After a painstaking, three-minute process, officials agreed that the play should be overturned, much to the chagrin of the home crowd and football fans everywhere.

The play involved Tennessee receiver Courtney Roby, who, while blanketed by a defender, reached for a pass that was way over his head and pulled it down to his chest with one hand while seemingly landing with both feet in the end zone for a touchdown. The breathtaking catch would have brought the Titans to within two points with a little over a minute to play.

While initial replays seemed to show that the catch was good, the replay booth decided it should be reviewed.

“The booth is reviewing the call that it was a completed catch,” said referee Jeff Triplett, taking the air out of the jubilant crowd. “It was simply too amazing not to be reviewed. So calm down, everybody, and stop cheering. And for you viewers at home--enjoy this batch of commercials.”

Triplett then proceeded to the replay camera to find any reason, however small, to overturn the catch. As the replay was shown over and over, analyst Phil Simms noticed something that “didn’t look right.”

“See, if you slow it down right there, you can see that he may not have had both feet in bounds when he landed.” Simms told broadcast partner Jim Nance. “OK, this is the perfect angle. Now I want you to look at his left foot. See his left foot? As he comes down with the ball, you can see that a blade of grass from out of bounds—one, single blade of grass--grazes up against his left toe ever so slightly as it lands in the end zone. That’s not a catch. I’m afraid this one is going to be overturned, and with good reason. It’s too bad, too. If you’re Courtney Roby, you’ve got to make that play.”

When Triplett came out to announce his findings, the crowd already knew what he was going to say.

“After reviewing the play, a tiny blade of grass from outside the end zone grazed up against the receiver’s toe. The pass is incomplete. Your hopes for victory have been eliminated. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to huddle with my crew for ten more minutes to figure out how many seconds to put on the clock.”

After the game, Titans coach Jeff Fisher voiced frustration with the referee’s decision to overturn the call.

“It’s extremely frustrating when your guy makes a spectacular play and it’s overturned because of some microscopic blade of grass,” he told reporters. “I know we’re supposed to be getting these plays right, but aren’t we robbing the game of some of its spontaneity and excitement? I mean, even if it was upheld as a catch, it’s still sort of a letdown for the crowd and the fans. If I was in charge of all this, I would only review plays that were obviously questionable—or ones that went against my team.”

The instant replay rule was instituted by the NFL to help eliminate the growing number of bad calls that were affecting the outcomes of games. Despite the occasional controversy, most people support instant replay, preferring to let the players decide the game instead of the officials.

Rich McKay, co-chairman of the NFL Competition Committee, said that Sunday’s call was just another illustration of how much instant replay has enhanced the game.

“In the old days, if somebody made a spectacular, shoe-string catch and it looked nice and legal to the naked eye, than it was ruled a catch,” McKay said. “If somebody fumbled the ball and it looked like he was on his feet at the time, it was called a fumble. Now, even if it looks a certain way to everybody in the stadium, it gets reviewed—especially if it’s an amazing play. We can’t let one of those go by without the most intense amount of scrutiny. See, we don’t want the referees to be deciding these games. We don’t want the players to be deciding them, either, actually. We want the games to be decided by computers, because they are better than all of us at everything. Isn't that comforting?”