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During the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship Game between the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman went back to return a punt, but the boot from Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt took an odd bounce.
Edelman crouched down to try and pick up the football as it was bouncing, only to see it sail over his hands. The Chiefs, thinking Edelman had muffed the punt, recovered what was thought to be a loose football, giving them outstanding field position.
Replays then showed that the ball clearly did not touch Edelman, and officials then overturned the call and gave the ball back to New England.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, however, does not think the call should have been changed:
“The call on the punt, whether he touched it, you can never get it right, because it was called on the field as a touch and then later, you couldn’t see an angle that he definitely touched it,” Jones said, according to Drew Davison of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “But the rule says you’re supposed to go with the call on the field if you can’t see an angle that he didn’t touch it. I don’t know if you can get everything [right].”
Of course, it ended up being immaterial in the end, as Daniel Sorensen picked off Tom Brady on that ensuing Patriots possession which led to a Chiefs touchdown.
Either way, Jones is wrong here. The ball blatantly avoided Edelman's touch, so giving the ball back to the Pats was unquestionably the right decision.
