A disputed challenge in Sunday’s Panthers-Broncos game has turned into one of those plays people will keep replaying from every angle.
The sequence started with what was initially ruled an incompletion, then became a reversal after Broncos coach Sean Payton’s red flag came into play. There’s no real argument about the ball itself: Broncos safety Devon Key clearly got his hands under it before it hit the turf, even though some will say Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble was interfered with on the play.
The real fight is over timing. Payton’s challenge was not acknowledged by the officials until after the next snap had already happened, when the Panthers had run Chuba Hubbard up to the goal line and been stopped there. Only after that play was whistled dead did the referees pick up the challenge.
NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth addressed the sequence with Alex Zietlow of The Charlotte Observer, saying:
"Replay can get involved to make sure that the head coach throws his challenge flag prior to the next snap. We were actually able to use angles to show that the flag was out prior to the ball being snapped, and so we permitted the challenge."
But new video shared by @TacosTweets on Twitter/X and @mega_potato on Reddit appears to muddy that explanation. On the clip, Payton is shown near the 20-yard line, back and to the left, and the flag does not seem to reach the ground before the snap.
That still leaves one question: does the throwing motion itself count? The NFL rulebook says the head coach or the head coach’s pregame challenge designee can start a challenge by throwing a red flag onto the field before the next legal snap or kick.
If the motion is enough, then this was an extremely tight call. If not, the video raises a serious problem with how the challenge was handled.
Either way, the reversal changed the game. What might have been an eight-point Panthers lead instead swung into a 13-0 Broncos run in their 26-21 win.
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