Getty Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
The Cleveland Browns were handed the biggest break of 2021 when Patrick Mahomes had to leave in their Divisional playoff matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. After making their first playoff game since 2002, Cleveland had every opportunity to get to their first AFC Championship game since 1989. A big reason why they ended up losing the game was a costly fumble by Rashard Higgins.
Late in the second quarter, the Browns were driving and in a position to score before halftime. Unfortunately, Higgins decided to reach the ball out when he was diving towards the end zone and ended up fumbling out of bounds past the goal line, which caused a touchback and gave the Chiefs the ball back. They marched down the field and scored a field goal. Instead of going into halftime with a score of 16-10, the score was 19-3.
The Browns ended up losing the 22-17. Perhaps if Higgins doesn’t fumble that ball, the game has a much different outcome.
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Derek Carr Trends After Fumble
Unfortunately for the Las Vegas Raiders, they are all too familiar with the touchback rule. In fact, it’s happened to quarterback Derek Carr on two separate occasions. Once against the Dallas Cowboys in 2017 and once against the Green Bay Packers in 2019. Both games were losses. Carr started to trend on Twitter after the Higgins play.
After the mistake against the Packers in 2019, the quarterback opened up.
“In that moment, it’s so hard because you’re right there and you’re playing a tough team where you’re going to need all the points you can get. So it’s so hard not to try,” Carr said, via Wisconsin State Journal. “(But) I’ve got to go with two hands, right? Trying to extend with one hand isn’t smart. That’s stupid.
“But at the end of the day, it’s really hard to, in that situation while you’re running … I’m not thinking about anything else but, ‘Oh, man, I could get in.’ But it sucks, man. It’s my fault. I let my team down on that.”
Does Derek Carr trend every time there’s a fumble touchback? That’s so mean.
The play even elicited a response from Carr.
Well obviously that’s the worst rule in football… 🤦🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️😂 #DontPunishEffort
Luckily, it appears Carr has learned from the mistakes and he didn’t fumble out of the end zone in 2020.
@VicTafur 😂… the practice helped though
Carr still has fumble issues but there are few things worse than fumbling in the end zone. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen to the Raiders anymore.
NFL Could Change Rule
The touchback rule has always been controversial but the NFL hasn’t moved to change it yet. Now that it’s happened during a playoff game with a lot of eyes watching, the league can alter the rule. On the surface, it doesn’t make a lot of sense that fumbling out of bounds results in a turnover.
When offensive players fumble out of bounds but it’s not in the end zone, they get to keep the ball. There are a number of ways the NFL can change the rule. Perhaps, if an offensive player fumbles out of bounds in the end zone, the ball is placed on the one-yard line. They could even put the offense back at the 20-yard line. Giving the ball to the defense seems like too stiff a penalty and the league should change it immediately.
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Raiders’ Derek Carr Goes Viral Over ‘Worst Rule in Football’