Myers, the center, is trained to snap the football anytime a defender jumps across the line of scrimmage. The problem was, Uche started from nowhere near the line of scrimmage. He was 2 yards off when he took two quick steps forward, enticed by Love’s hard count. Uche stopped himself before reaching the line, digging his left hand into the ground as a makeshift brake.
Myers snapped anyway.
Love wasn’t expecting the snap. Wasn’t even looking at Myers. Standing back in the shotgun, he tried to react. Love reached both hands up for the football, but it was approaching too quickly, and now it was sailing through his hands, bouncing back toward the Packers end zone.
“In the moment,” Myers said, “I was like, ‘We’ve got him.’ Then when I saw the ball soar, I was like, ‘Oh (expletive). But we’re fine. We’ve got a penalty.’ Then I turned around and looked for it, and I was like, ‘Holy (expletive). Where’s the penalty?’”
Myers didn’t see a penalty flag for good reason. Uche jumped, but he never crossed the line. Instead of a free play, this third-and-5 very much counted, regrettably. Uche chased after the bouncing football, in a footrace with Love. Both went sliding for it around the 20-yard line, some 20 yards into the backfield.
Uche recovered it at the 18.
The Patriots had a touchdown and 7-0 lead five plays later.
“Those are tough decisions,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Because, yeah, you want to take advantage of those situations. We had a couple come up in practice over the last couple practices that got whistled dead by the officials, and it’s such a fine line. Because you have to be on time when the offensive lineman, whoever is on top of the defensive player, when they move that snap has to come. If not, they’re going to whistle it dead.
Originally Posted by Joemailman
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