It looked like Hunter Henry got completely robbed on a third-quarter touchdown catch in Thursday night’s New England Patriots loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
He caught a Mac Jones pass right at the goal line and appeared to get his hands across the goal line with the ball in his hands. It was initially a touchdown … but replay overturned it.
The explanation for why? Walt Anderson, the NFL’s VP of officiating, had an explanation for the call, per the pool report: “He was going to the ground, the ball ended up touching the ground, and then he lost control of the ball in his hands.”
But when asked about why he didn’t have possession before then?
“Because as he’s going to the ground, he has to maintain control of the ball upon contacting the ground. The term that’s commonly used is ‘surviving the ground’ … he has the elements of two feet and control, but because he’s going to the ground, he has to maintain control of the ball.”
“Surviving the ground?” NFL fans had a very big problem with that: