Texans-Raiders highlights: Watch refs botch call, rob DeAndre Hopkins of a TD
Hopkins should've had a long touchdown in the first quarter but had it taken away
The Houston Texans do not have a very good offense. They came into their Monday night matchup with the Oakland Raiders ranked 30th in yards per game and 29th in points per game. So anytime they get a chance to score, they really need it.
On their opening drive of the night, the Texans had a touchdown taken off the board because the refs missed a call. DeAndre Hopkins caught a pass from Brock Osweiler on a quick out. He broke a tackle and turned upfield, tiptoeing up the sideline. Then the whistle blew. Only Hopkins wasn't actually out of bounds.
.@bosweiler ➡️ @nukdabomb.
— NFL (@NFL) November 22, 2016
24-yard gain! #HOUvsOAK🇲🇽 https://t.co/zVRG0TSGds
This is where they ruled Hopkins out at the 36. Hard to review plays blown dead but he likely would have scored. pic.twitter.com/wkqXNE9isr
— Mike Tunison (@xmasape) November 22, 2016
As you can see, there is clearly some grass between Hopkins' foot and the sideline. He's headed up the field with nobody between him and the end zone. This is a touchdown waiting to happen, and the Texans had it snatched right out of their hands. Because the play was blown dead, the Texans were not able to challenge. (They wound up ending the drive with a field goal.)
The Twittersphere, appropriately, went nuts.
@Ebron85 why not just hold the whistle and let the automatic review process play out jeez
— David Harvey (@DavidHarvey77) November 22, 2016
"We got this call wrong, took six points off the board, and there's nothing you can do about it"#HOUvsOAK
— Steve Palazzolo (@PFF_Steve) November 22, 2016
El Chapo owns these refs.
— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) November 22, 2016
Robot sensors on the sidelines, please
— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) November 22, 2016
@DannyBKelly@xmasape that's why you don't blow the play dead on a 50/50. Let them play, then review if necessary.
— Max Power 🇺🇸 (@mrmaxpower19k) November 22, 2016
There is, of course, a potential solution, but even this would not solve the issue of the play having been blown dead.
Put cameras or sensors on all sidelines and goal lines. If tennis can do this in about 100 tournaments the NFL can figure it out
— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal) November 22, 2016
Why has this not been done already? Then we can avoid situations like this and the controversial blocked extra point touchdown from the Broncos-Saints game last week.
While it's not a makeup call, referee Tony Corrente didn't penalize Texans coach Bill O'Brien for challenging an unreviewable play -- which should have resulted in the Texans losing a timeout.
















