The NFL wouldn’t take all of the blame for the roughing the punter call in the Cowboys’ 24-20 comeback victory over the rival Eagles on Sunday.
With 4:45 remaining in the first quarter, Cowboys wide receiver Ryan Flournoy was flagged for roughing the kicker on a punt attempt — which resulted in a 15-yard penalty on Dallas and led to an Eagles score.
A replay by Fox later showed Flournoy’s right hand making contact with the football before connecting with Eagles punter Braden Mann. The Cowboys did not challenge the call.
Mark Butterworth, the NFL vice president of instant replay, acknowledged the mistake on the league’s part — but explained that Fox’s replay was shown “too late” for officials to review it.
“When there is a flag thrown for roughing the punter, we clear the play to make sure that the ball wasn’t tipped,” Butterworth said in a pool report after the game. “We can use replay assist to pick up the flag when we have clear and obvious video evidence that the player that committed the foul touched the ball prior to making contact with the punter.
“Also, more importantly, the defense can always challenge that the ball was tipped prior to contact. Now, what happened was, I think a play or two later, TV showed an enhanced shot, which they can do. We don’t have access to that enhanced shot until they show it. By then, it was too late. If we would have had that shot previously, we would have been able to assist prior to the ball being snapped.”
Butterworth added that if Dallas had challenged the call, officials “probably would have gotten an advanced shot from broadcast that would have indeed showed that the ball was tipped.”
He also emphasized that there would not have been a roughing the punter call if Fox had shown the replay sooner.
“For us to replay assist, we would need clear and obvious video evidence, which we didn’t have until, again, the broadcast partner sent an enhanced view,” Butterworth said. “I think it was a play or two later. Their enhanced shot showed that the ball was tipped prior to contact to the punter by the fouling player.”
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Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Flournoy was “adamant” about tipping the ball, and that Dallas “should have challenged it.”
The Cowboys erased a 21-0 deficit in dramatic fashion Sunday to down the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles.
Dallas (5-5-1) has a short week as they host the Chiefs (6-5) in Thursday’s Thanksgiving clash.
The Eagles (8-3) play the Bears (8-3) in Philadelphia on Sunday.
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