Every football fan grows up learning the exact same rule: if a QB’s arm isn’t swinging forward when he gets hit and the ball pops out, it’s a fumble. But when facing 3rd-and-16 from the Detroit Lions’ 32-yard line in the 2nd quarter of the 2026 NFL season opener, New Orleans Saints DE Chase Young beat his man and blasted into Jared Goff from the blindside, sending the football flying 20 yards backwards to Detroit’s 12-yard line.
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Lions TE Sam LaPorta and Saints DE Carl Granderson both scrambled to get possession of the ball as New Orleans safety Jonas Sanker managed to scoop it up for a walk-in TD. Everyone expected the score to get tied at 7-7. Instead, the officials ruled the action as an incompletion, allowing Detroit to safely punt on 4th down as the score remained 7-0 in favour of Detroit.
In the aftermath of Week 1, Jason Kelce, former NFL center, along with his brother and the Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis, decoded what exactly transpired in the Saints vs. Lions game and made their feelings clear about the “stupid” rule that denied the Saints a defensive TD.
“The rule is because the ball doesn’t get dislodged in his hand- like he maintains control of it, and he’s trying to throw the ball, like the intent is to throw the ball forward and he doesn’t lose control. The hit is the thing that makes him throw it backwards. By rule, it’s an incomplete pass because he was intending to throw it forward…
“I think it’s a stupid rule. If the ball goes backwards, no matter what, it’s a fumble to me, right? It was a huge play in the game, a huge moment.” Jason Kelce said in episode 201 of the New Heights podcast. “That’s what’s weird. It’s not even that the arm wasn’t going forward when the initial contact was made. It’s like [he] threw it backwards, but he only threw it backwards because he was hit. So, he wasn’t intending to throw it back. I just think rules that factor in, like, intent are stupid. How do you factor that in?”
Travis Kelce agreed with Jason, stating that while these calls and the rules might be “here-and-there,” this particular play definitely looked like a fumble.
Looking back, Jared Goff will be over-the-moon that the call was made in his favour, especially with the way the match ended. The Lions managed to win by a tiny margin of 31-30 in overtime against the Saints.
In such a tight game, if this call had stood as a touchdown, the entire complexion of the matchup would have flipped early on. Instead of falling into a deep 21-0 hole, the Saints would have erased the need for their 24-point second-half comeback.
What’s worse was the fact that the on-field officials initially signalled a TD. However, the replay officials overturned the touchdown.
The decision hinged on NFL Rule 8, Section 1, the rule that Jason Kelce mentioned, which governs forward passes and passing motion. The league determined that because Goff had started raising the ball to begin his passing motion prior to Young’s contact, his intent was to deliver a forward pass.
Consequently, even though the ball traveled about 20 yards in reverse, the contact by the defender materially altered the trajectory of a pass that had already technically begun, rendering it an incomplete pass rather than a live loose ball.
Whether or not this rule is “stupid,” one person who definitely feels grateful for its existence is Jared Goff. The Lions in Week 2 faced the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football, who defeated them 41-31 despite Goff putting in a solid performance, throwing for 327 yards, 4 TDs, and 0 INTs. Had they lost the season opener, they would’ve been 0-2 to start off the season instead of 1-1.