Can anyone post -- links and "the truth" about the 4 calls: 1. Why cant you challenge a down by contact play? Did the refs get the rule wrong? 2. Did Royal step out of bounds? 3. Was TJ's elbow down (does it matter)? 4. Was the guy in the endzone? Did he step on the line first? Was his foot down when he hit the ball? Does it matter.
1 A fumble recovery is Not Reviewable. The refs ruled that Cotch never regained control of the fumble and since you cannot review a fumble recovery there was nothing to review. To us, Cotch laying ontop of the ball indicates he had possession and should be down by contact but technically him falling on the ball is a fumble recovery which is not reviewable. Its BS but so it goes. 2. It looked like he did but was it definitive enough to overturn? 3. Tj's elbow was most likely down but there was no camera angle to show that it was so it doesnt matter. It is possible his elbow landed on the thigh of the defender. 4. Once again it looked like he stepped on the line before he touched the ball but it was too close to overturn IMO.
The guy rules that JC doesn't have possession and hence, hasn't recovered the fumble so cannot be downed. Trouble is, as one poster aptly put it, if instead of flopping on him the defensive guy merely touched him, the play would have been called. Therefore, he must be judged to have had possession. If not, then the following is possible--the guy touches him on the ground, there's no whistle (since JC doesn't have possesion) then a millisecond later, Cotch gets up and runs for a touchdown since he gained possession a millisecond after he was touched. Imagine the uproar.
I assume the reason for the rule is so that when there is a pile up -- you cant review that. Lets say that there was a bouncing ball on the side line and the question was whether the defender had possession before he went out of bounds? Not reviewable? Im not sure -- but I think I have seen that it is.
I think Mike Pereira would says thats a "non fumble situation" but it clearly is the same thing. Still ridiculous. He also thought that JC didnt have possession anyway.
