NFL Fumbling: Seriously, Just Get the Ball to the End Zone

 NFL Fumbling: Seriously, Just Get the Ball to the End Zone

The new TV show "Chad Powers," based on the old Eli Manning undercover-QB skit, opens with a scene that would seem absurd if it weren't so accurate: Oregon's Manziel-like quarterback, Chad Powers, costs the Ducks the national championship when he celebrates a little too early during a game-winning touchdown scramble, dropping the ball just short of the goal line.

Art imitates life, in a way that will leave every football fan at least cringing, and at best enraged. (In the post-fumble scramble, Chad also knocks a sick child out of his wheelchair, but that's a different story.) Dropping the ball before the end zone—literally losing a guaranteed six points—is undoubtedly the stupidest, most preventable mistake an NFL player can make.

But it happens.

Last week, Indianapolis' Adonai Mitchell turned a 75-yard touchdown reception into a spectacular one when he advanced the ball a little too early:

The ball was out before crossing the goal line. It's a touchback!

The Colts went on to lose to the Rams by a touchdown. No further comment necessary.

Then on Sunday, Arizona's Amari Demercado, just inches from the end zone, decided to throw the football away like an empty coffee cup before crossing the goal line:

Arizona was leading 21-6 before Demercado crossed the goal line... and lost 22-21. Again, no further comment necessary.

The rule that converts a fumble in the end zone into a touchback is widely criticized when it comes at the end of a long, sustained offensive drive. Some even call it "the worst rule in football" because it severely penalizes the offense. But when the touchback rule applies because the ball carrier carelessly throws the ball away, well... a touchback doesn't seem like a serious punishment.

The mechanism for these insane drops is always the same—the player drops the ball as soon as he crosses the goal line. Every viewer who has witnessed thousands of touchdowns immediately realizes something is wrong, just like you might hear a discordant tune in a familiar song. And then comes the review, and the announcers on-air shudder, and the coach loses his temper, and everyone is perplexed by one thing: why is this still happening?

There's no excuse, no rationale, no way around it: dropping the ball before reaching the end zone is the most stupid move any football player can make. It's the ultimate expression of "I" before the team, a bit of celebration—or performative carelessness, whatever—that costs your team truly tangible, measurable, scoreboard-worthy points.

Although players have been dropping footballs before the end zone—sometimes to celebrate, sometimes out of incompetence—probably since the game began, patient zero for drops is probably DeSean Jackson of the Eagles, who did this in a game against the Cowboys in 2008:

This isn't a criticism of celebrations. Touchdown celebrations rule in the NFL! Scoring a touchdown in the NFL is hard work, and it should be celebrated! Hey, bring on Broadway choreography, a full brass band, whatever. But celebrate after scoring a touchdown, not before.

Coaches at every level should teach players to get the ball to the end zone. Hit the ball against the back wall. Touch the goalpost. Get the ball to the team plane. Whatever it takes, don't drop the ball before reaching the end zone... or you'll never get back into that end zone.