On the last play of the Buccaneers’ loss to the Falcons today, Tampa Bay nearly pulled off a miraculous victory, when Jameis Winston ran the ball up the middle, then pitched it to Adam Humphries, who pitched it to Mike Evans, who pitched it to DeSean Jackson, who had a clear path to the end zone. Unfortunately, Jackson couldn’t get a handle on Evans’ lateral, and it went out of bounds.
But if Jackson had picked up the ball and run it into the end zone, the Buccaneers would have won -- despite an NFL rule that might seem to prevent such a play.
Known as the “Holy Roller rule,” it was implemented after an infamous Raiders-Chargers game in 1978 that ended with Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler purposely fumbling the ball, other Raiders batting it forward, and Oakland’s Dave Casper eventually falling on it in the end zone for a game-winning touchdown. The play was highly controversial, and the league later changed the rules to say that if an offensive player fumbles after the two-minute warning, or on fourth down, only the fumbling player may pick up the loose ball and run with it.
That rule would not, however, have applied to the Buccaneers’ final play. PFT checked with the league office about it, and we were told that Jackson could have picked up the loose ball at the end of the game and scored a touchdown. That’s because the loose ball came on a backward pass, not a fumble.
For his part, Jackson said the play worked exactly as designed, and Jackson said he’s sure he would have scored a touchdown if he had been able to get a handle on the ball.
“I’d have walked in backwards,” he said, via Greg Auman of The Athletic. “I was anxiously waiting on it. . . . The way that play is planned out, I definitely would have for sure scored.”
Jackson very well might have scored if he had caught the lateral from Evans. And it would have been one of the craziest endings since the Holy Roller, 40 years ago.