KC Chiefs coach Andy Reid addresses missed opportunity on fumble recovery in Philly
The Eagles must have known something the Chiefs didn’t, and it saved Philadelphia a possession that turned into a touchdown.
In the Chiefs’ 42-30 victory on Sunday, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts completed a quick slant to Kenneth Gainwell, who advanced 15 yards to the Chiefs’ 3-yard line. Gainwell was tackled by linebacker Ben Niemann and the ball came loose.
Niemann pounced on the ball at the goal line and held it up before tossing it to an official. Referee Land Clark announced Gainwell, “was down by contact.” The Eagles hurried to the line and got off the snap that resulted in Hurts’ touchdown pass to Dallas Goedert for a 10-7 Philly lead.
When CBS returned from a commercial break, NFL rules analyst Gene Steratore had reviewed the play. One of the camera angles clearly showed Niemann’s hand knocking the ball loose before Gainwell was down.
“A challenge there would have caused a turnover,” Steratore said.
On Monday, Kansas City coach Andy Reid said the Chiefs’ coaching staff didn’t get a good look at the play at the time.
“I’ve seen it now on tape, and the problem was we didn’t get any replay on it (Sunday),” Reid said. “It was on the far corner away from us — hard to see exactly what went on. Normally you get a replay up. They didn’t present one. We weren’t able to get a look at it.
“Hindsight, though, yeah I should have thrown a flag.”
An unsuccessful challenge would have cost the Chiefs a timeout. Not throwing the flag cost them a touchdown.
“You start throwing the flag, you want to know what you’re throwing it for,” Reid said. “You expect replays to show up in a certain amount of time. That didn’t happen. I’m not going throw the flag unless I’m absolutely sure what’s going on. Timeouts are valuable in this league.”
Or perhaps Niemann could’ve made a stronger case on the field at the time. Instead, the Eagles went to the line quickly for the next snap.
The situation was similar to one last year in which Tyreek Hill didn’t believe he’d caught a touchdown pass against the Denver Broncos. Replays showed the ball never touched the ground while Hill was on his back in the end zone. The Chiefs didn’t challenge the play and Hill later said he didn’t realize the ball hadn’t left his possession.