Why Saints Lost TD on Controversial Ref Overturned Call With Weird Rule

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DETROIT, MICHIGAN - SEPTEMBER 13: Jared Goff #16 of the Detroit Lions passes the ball against the New Orleans Saints during the second quarter of the game at Ford Field on September 13, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

The New Orleans Saints thought they had their first touchdown of the 2026 NFL season.

They’d just jarred the ball loose from Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff. They picked it up. They ran it to the end zone.

A fumble-six, right?

Well, not after replay review.

The refereeing crew determined that it was actually an incomplete pass, and that seemed like a wild call based on first viewing.

Here’s what happened.

Why Saints Lost TD

Chase Young came off the edge and hit Goff from behind.

Goff was in a throwing motion, and no one would dispute that, but that wasn’t the controversy.

The problem is that the throw went backward. It went multiple yards in a backward direction.

Usually, a backward pass that isn’t caught is a fumble and a live football.

If Goff had looked at a receiver out wide who was behind him, thrown, and missed, it would be a fumble.

Here, you couldn’t tell who Goff was targeting, and that was the key. The hit changed the direction of his intention to throw.

And somehow, that activated a rule no one knew about.

What was the Rule?

This is how Fox officiating analyst Mike Pereira explained it during the broadcast:

“He had started his throwing motion. The throwing motion is bringing the ball up. Forget about the hand at this point going forward. Throwing motion starts with hand going up, then hit, ball comes loose, his intent was to throw it forward, and since that motion had already started, that’s going to be a forward pass no matter where it lands.”

.@MikePereira breaks down why the Saints touchdown was overturned

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/vY2N7CIBBG

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 13, 2026

Has anyone in the world of football ever heard that rule before?

They always talk about the throwing arm going forward.

Here, it’s about the throwing arm going… up?

This is the rule that is in the rulebook that apparently none of us knew https://t.co/UjGYZgwOVz pic.twitter.com/6qApaS1fLh

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) September 13, 2026

It seems like this should’ve happened before and been a play that people remembered, but no one was bringing up another example on social media.

Saints fans were flabbergasted.

When the forward pass goes backward https://t.co/Ky5MZanykC pic.twitter.com/lUmrJKWH5L

— Sports (@Sports) September 13, 2026

New Orleans looked like it was going to get played off the field, but then the Saints got back in the game.

These points could be pivotal if the game ends up close, and it’s going to be a hard one to come to grips with for the Saints if this is the reason they don’t win in Week 1.