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In the Broncos’ 19-16 overtime loss to the Chargers on Monday night, a special teams miscue in overtime set Los Angeles up for the winning field goal. Here’s a breakdown of what happened.
The situation: With 4:57 left in overtime, both offenses were stuck in neutral as Los Angeles punted the ball away on fourth-and-9 from its own 20-yard line. It was the fourth punt of overtime.
The formation: Standard punt formation.
The play call: The Broncos brought some pressure on Chargers punter and Mullen alum JK Scott, but sent most of their blockers downfield to set up for the return.
The result: Scott boomed the punt about 60 yards with more than five seconds of hang time. As a result of the high, arching punt, Broncos core special teamer P.J. Locke had sufficient time to sprint down the field and set up to block around the Denver 33-yard line, where returner Montrell Washington was coming up the field, tracking the punt and calling for a fair catch.
With Locke and Washington within one yard of each other and Locke face-to-face with the Chargers’ Ja’Sir Taylor, Taylor perfectly timed a shove of Locke into Washington as the returner was about to field the punt. The ball hit off Washington’s leg — his second muff of the game — and was recovered by the Chargers’ Deane Leonard.
#Broncos Montrell Washington muffs the punt, sets the #Chargers up with great field position. pic.twitter.com/N9B1lZygam
— NFL Unlimited (@NFLUnlimited) October 18, 2022
The fallout: Instead of getting the ball back with decent field position and a chance to drive to win the game with a field goal, the Chargers got Washington’s fumble at the Denver 28-yard line. That set up Dustin Hopkins for the game-winning 39-yard field goal four plays later.
But was Taylor’s shove of Locke into Washington interference? Let’s go to the 2022 NFL rule book’s section on interference during an opportunity to catch a kick…
Item 1. Contact with Receiver. It is interference if a player of the kicking team contacts the receiver, or causes a passive player of either team to contact the receiver, before or simultaneous to the receiver touching the ball.
Item 2. Right of Way. A receiver who is moving toward a kicked ball that is in flight has the right of way. If opponents obstruct his path to the ball, or cause a passive player of either team to obstruct his path, it is interference, even if there is no contact, or if he catches the ball in spite of the interference, and regardless of whether any signal was given.
Note: It is not a foul if a kicking team player is blocked into the receiver, or the contact is the result of a foul.
Clearly, the referees didn’t see Locke as a “passive player” in this instance, considering he was engaging with Taylor when Taylor shoved him into Washington.
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