Among the things that didn’t go the Saints’ way during Sunday’s 13-0 loss to the 49ers was a replay review of a 30-yard pass from Taysom Hill to Chris Olave in the second quarter.
Olave appeared to catch the ball and possess it while getting both feet down on the ground before losing control after being tackled. The ruling on the field was a catch, but 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan challenged that it was actually an incomplete pass.
That was the ruling after a review with Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino explaining the decision by saying that Olave failed to perform an act common to the game and “goes to the ground, he loses the football, he doesn’t complete the process.” The Saints would have been on the eight-yard-line, but wound up punting after a penalty pushed them even further back.
After the game, Olave said he disagreed with the call but has “to move on from there.” Saints head coach Dennis Allen also expressed his confusion about the ruling.
“I don’t know what a catch is in our league anymore,” Allen said, via Luke Johnson of NOLA.com. “It’s changed multiple times. Their explanation to me was that he didn’t survive the ground. Yeah. I don’t know what a catch is.”
Two Alvin Kamara fumbles, a missed field goal, and several ill-timed penalties combined with the 49ers defense and the overturned catch to make it a very long day for the Saints.