Chargers’ manner of forcing muffed punt was (mostly) legal, according to NFL rulebook
The Chargers seemingly caught a big break in the fourth quarter of their “Monday Night Football” game against the Cowboys at SoFi Stadium.
Los Angeles punted but Dallas’ KaVontae Turpin was unable to catch the ball. After a scramble, the Chargers’ Amen Ogbongbemiga recovered the ball at the Cowboys’ 20-yard line because Dallas’ Jalen Tolbert had touched it.
Many fans wondered why there was no penalty because Tolbert was pushed into Turpin by the Chargers’ Ja’Sir Taylor. Here is the play.
The NFL rulebook addresses just such a situation, and technically Taylor didn’t commit a penalty by pushing Tolbert into the punt returner.
Here’s what the rulebook says, and the key word to note is passive: “A receiver who is moving toward a kicked ball that is in flight has the right of way. If opponents obstruct his path to the ball, or cause a passive player of either team to obstruct his path, it is interference, even if there is no contact, or if he catches the ball in spite of the interference, and regardless of whether any signal was given.”
It wasn’t a foul because Tolbert was actively blocking the Chargers’ Taylor. That means Tolbert wasn’t passive in that situation.
However, as many fans noted, Taylor had grabbed Tolbert’s facemask, which should have been a penalty and would have negated the Chargers’ fumble recovery.
The Chargers took advantage of the short field and scored a game-tying touchdown, but Dallas came away with a 20-17 victory.
