National Football League

Rams-Eagles fumble TD shows how fast officials have to think

Published Oct. 5, 2014 5:07 p.m. ET

foxsports

Sixty seconds.

Sometimes that amount of time can seem like an eternity … and at others, it can seem like it’s over in the blink of an eye.

But when you’re an official in the NFL, things move pretty quickly. So not only do your eyes have to be quick, so does your mind when it comes to making decisions expeditiously.

That was the case in Philadelphia for the Rams-Eagles game on FOX Sunday.

St. Louis had the ball, first-and-10 at its own 11-yard line with 12:25 left to play in the third quarter. Philadelphia led, 20-7.

Rams quarterback Austin Davis dropped back to pass, and the Eagles’ Trent Cole knocked the ball from his hand. The Rams’ Jake Long and the Eagles’ Cedric Thornton were scrambling to get possession. Long grabbed it first, but the ball came loose, then came loose again after Thornton tried to grab it. Thornton eventually fell on it in the end zone, and the ruling was a touchdown.

After a scoring review, the call was upheld.

Sometimes in replay, you have to review multiple aspects of a play, yet the officials still only have the same amount of time: 60 seconds.

On this play, two aspects had to be reviewed:

— First: Was it a fumble or an incomplete pass?

— Second: Was the recovery in the field of play with the recovering player, Thornton, down by contact?

The officials had to take them in order. First they had to confirm it was a fumble because obviously if it was an incomplete pass, then the recovery would have been irrelevant. They did that.

Then they went on to the recovery aspect. And they saw though Thornton had possession for just a second the ball got knocked out of his hand by Long and then was recovered again by Thornton in the end zone.

Confirmed on both aspects … all in the blink of an eye.