The Texans’ come-from-behind victory over the Chargers on Monday night was aided by a bad call.
NFL V.P. of Officiating Dean Blandino admitted on NFL Network that Chargers defensive tackle Cam Thomas, who was called for an illegal hit on Texans long snapper Jon Weeks, should not have been penalized. The wrongly thrown flag took a Texans field goal off the board and set the Texans up for a touchdown on the next play, meaning it essentially gave the Texans an extra four points in a game they won 31-28.
“This was not a correct call,” Blandino said. “This is not the intent of the rule as it was written. The rule is to protect the snapper on a field goal or an extra point from a direct forcible blow to the head or neck area, or with the crown, forehead, hairline parts of the helmet to the body. It was not designed to prohibit any contact with the snapper, which is what happened on this play.”
Blandino said that when the umpire looked at the play in real time he thought Thomas had roughed Weeks, but when the league office looked at multiple replay angles, they thought the contact was incidental.
“It’s a judgment call by the umpire, he’s looking at that, and in his judgment, he felt that it was enough for a foul,” Blandino said. “And in our review today, we felt that it was not.”
That review came too late for the Chargers.