Indianapolis Colts linebacker Darius Leonard will go to his grave believing he recovered a Deshaun Watson fumble late in Thursday night's 20-17 loss to the Houston Texans.
"We were fighting for it," Leonard said after the tilt, via the Indy Star. "I got it."
"I punched it out," Leonard said. "I punched for it, got it out. I had it, and after that, they said it wasn't a fumble."
On the field, officials ruled the play a fumble and a recovery by Watson.
Dubiously, NFL's vice president of officiating Al Riveron didn't call for a review, even after the Texans surprisingly called a timeout, which gave New York more time to look at the play.
"The officials, I was trying to get them to review it, but the officials on the sideline told me it was being reviewed, and then the Texans called timeout," Colts coach Frank Reich said. "That gave them, in New York, even more time to review it. Obviously, they saw it and didn't think it was a fumble."
After the tilt, the NFL Officiating Twitter account noted that after looking at the replays, there was no clear and definitive evidence that could have changed the call, which is why play wasn't stopped.
"Officials on the field ruled a fumble recovered by the offense," the NFL's officiating account tweeted. "There was no clear visual evidence of a recovery by the defense."
That argument will not sway the Colts linebacker.
Had there been a clear recovery, Jacoby Brissett would have had one last chance with about 90 seconds left and no timeouts from their own 35-yard-line to move into field goal range for a potential game-tying try by Adam Vinatieri. We'll never know how that might have turned out.
It wouldn't be a prime-time tilt without some controversy, but this was dust bunnies compared to last week's issue the NFL is still cleaning up.
