Confirmed Eagles touchdown furthers confusion

Zach Ertz nearly saw his goahead touchdown catch that lifted the Philadelphia Eagles to the franchise’s first Super Bowl overturned by the NFL’s confusing catch rule.

“If they had overturned that, I don’t know what would have happened to the city of Philadelphia,” a smiling Ertz said on the stage at U.S. Bank Stadium after the 41-33 victory over New England.

Ertz caught the ball and took three steps before diving into the end zone. After the ball crossed the goal line, the tight end lost control.

It was called an 11-yard TD on the field for a 38-33 lead with 2:21 to play. But the play looked similar to the TD scored by Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Jesse James that was overturned in a regular season loss to the Patriots, so there was no certainty about the result of the review until the play was upheld.

A catch controversy also caused confusion earlier on the NFL’s biggest stage at Super Bowl LII.

Eagles rookie running back Corey Clement hauled in a 22yard touchdown pass from Nick Foles to put Philadelphia up 29-19 on the Patriots with 7:48 remaining in the third quarter. Clement got two feet inbounds before his toe on his third step touched the white line at the back of the end zone.

The play was called a touchdown on the field, and appeared to be the correct call. But when it went to review, NBC announcers Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth both felt strongly that Clement’s catch would be overturned incomplete.

Plenty of media covering the game agreed that Clement’s slight bobble of the ball meant he hadn’t established possession until his second step and therefore had gotten only one foot inbounds before touching the white line.

This was based on the NFL’s overturning of several similar calls this season based on a backward catch rule that commissioner Roger Goodell is making a priority to correct with the competition committee this offseason.

But Al Riveron, the NFL’s head of officiating who was in Minneapolis to review all replays as he had all season from the league headquarters in New York, upheld the call of touchdown on the field by Gene Steratore’s crew.

Many fans and folks watching the game threw up their hands, as did Michaels and Collinsworth.