NFL’s explanation for upholding Kyle Allen’s fumble is garbage

The first two and a half quarters of Sunday’s game was some of the worst football the Washington Football Team had played all season.

Thanks to a refusal to let the Cowboys coast to a victory, and Dallas taking its foot off the gas in the second half, though, Washington crawled back into the game late in the fourth quarter.

After a Cole Holcomb pick-six cut the deficit to seven, Washington got the ball back with a chance to tie the game with a touchdown.

In for the injured Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Allen began the drive with a completion to Cam Sims that was followed by a gorgeous deep ball to DeAndre Carter that was flat-out dropped. That may have been the defining moment of the game.

However, on the very next snap, Randy Gregory recorded a “strip-sack” of Allen that was recovered by Dallas.

It was ruled a fumble on the field and the call was upheld upon further review. By all accounts, it was a controversial ruling. To the naked eye, it looked like Allen had control of the ball with his hand moving forward.

See for yourself.

Washington Football Team fans will hate the NFL’s ruling on Kyle Allen’s fumble against the Cowboys.

Sure looks like Allen had control of the football until he released it, which would deem the play an incomplete pass, no?

Here’s what Walt Anderson, the league’s senior vice president of officiating, told reporters after the game.

"“There were two aspects that we looked at. The first was we were looking to see if the quarterback had control of the ball with his hand coming forward. We could confirm that he lost control of the ball before the hand came forward. And then the second aspect is we wanted to make sure that his knees were not down before he ended up losing control. And we were able to confirm that the knees were still up, so the ruling on the field stood.”"

The big problem here is that it was ruled a fumble on the field. After that, it kind of became inevitable officials weren’t going to have “clear and obvious” evident to overturn it. That doesn’t make it right, but it’s what fans of all teams have come to expect over the years as officiating has regressed.

In terms of the NFL’s explanation, well, that’s not surprising either. It makes it all the more infuriating, but what are we gonna do? Even if it didn’t stand by the call and owned up to the mistake, would that really give fans closure?

The bottom line is that it never should’ve came to that.

If Carter hauls in Allen’s deep ball, which Allen couldn’t have walked to him any better, we’re not even talking about this. Had he caught it, Washington is set up around Dallas’ 30-yard line with plenty of time to tie and potentially take the lead.

It’s also worth noting this call didn’t cost Washington the game. The game was lost in the first half when Washington fell down 24-0.

The timing of it, coupled with a litany of other questionable calls against the team, made it seem more egregious than it actually was.

We get the frustration stemming from the ruling (and explanation). Based on the standard the NFL has set in regard to its officiating this season, though, we wouldn’t lose any sleep over it, as distorted as it may be.