It was almost the reverse Holy Roller. However, the rule created because of a play in an Oakland Raiders-San Diego Chargers game in 1978 gave Las Vegas a temporary reprieve in its loss to Los Angeles on Thursday.
Justin Herbert tried to sneak his way into the end zone in overtime. However, the QB fumbled and a Charger recovered in the end zone.
That left the officials dumbfounded for a second until they realized a play between these teams with different homes 42 years ago impacted their decision.
They brought the ball back to where it was fumbled — basically inside the 1-yard line — and Herbert scored on the next play to give LA a 30-27 victory and its first AFC West triumph since 2018.
Now, 42 years ago a play happened between these franchises that led to the rule being changed, which forced the fumble to be returned to its place of origin.
On Sept. 10, 1978, with 10 seconds left the Raiders had possession of the ball at the Chargers’ 14-yard line, trailing 20–14. Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler took the snap and found himself about to be sacked by Chargers linebacker Woodrow Lowe on the 24-yard line.
The ball came out of Stabler’s hands and moved forward towards the Chargers’ goal line. Raiders running back Pete Banaszak appeared to try to recover the ball on the 12-yard line, but did not keep his footing, and pitched the ball with both hands even closer to the end zone. Raiders tight end Dave Casper was the next player to reach the ball but he also seemingly could not get a handle on it. He batted and kicked the ball into the end zone, where he fell on it for the game-tying touchdown as time ran out. With the ensuing extra point by placekicker Errol Mann, the Raiders won 21–20.
According to the NFL rulebook, “If a runner intentionally fumbles forward, it is a forward pass.” Also during the play, the game officials ruled that Banaszak and Casper’s actions were legal because it was impossible to determine if they intentionally batted the ball forward, which would have been ruled a penalty. The National Football League (NFL) also supported referee Jerry Markbreit’s call that Stabler fumbled the ball instead of throwing it forward.[5][4]
For years, Stabler publicly stated that it was a fumble. However, in a 2008 interview on NFL Films, he was asked if he could convince the camera crew that he did not flip the ball forward. Stabler responded, “No, I can’t convince you of that, because I did. I mean, what else was I going to do with it? Throw it out there, shake the dice.”[ Banaszak and Casper also admitted that they deliberately batted the ball towards the end zone.