Did Deshaun Watson fumble with just under two minutes left in Thursday’s Houston Texans win over the Indianapolis Colts?
It sure looked like there might have been a Colts recovery or at least a stoppage of play for a review by replay officials. But nope! The Texans kept the ball and NFL fans couldn’t believe there wasn’t a review.
The league’s Twitter feed for NFL Officiating delivered an explanation after the contest, saying “there was no clear visual evidence of a recovery by the defense” but that the ruling on the field was indeed a fumble recovered by the offense.
That’s not what Colts linebacker Darius Leonard thinks. From the Indianapolis Star:
“I punched it out,” Leonard said. “I punched for it, got it out. I had it, and after that, they said it wasn’t a fumble.”
On the replay, the ball comes loose and looks like it comes up into Leonard’s arms, with Watson grabbing for it as both go to the ground.
“Deshaun said I hit it out,” Leonard said. “Right after the play, he said it.”
Officially, we’ll never know if that’s true.
