The New England Patriots held on to a 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers thanks to a controversial overturned touchdown by the Steelers. The NFL deemed the officiating call big enough- AFC homefield advantage was on the line- to share a video explaining their decision to overturn the call on the field.
The video is an explanation from @NFL SVP of Officiating Al Riveron on the reversal at the end of the #NEvsPIT game. pic.twitter.com/hm5EeoZTER
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) December 18, 2017
“[James] is going to the ground,” Riveron says. “By rule, to complete the process of the catch, he must survive the ground. And by that we mean he must maintain control of the football. As we see here, he does put the ball over the goal line extended. Once he gets there, he loses control of the football and then the ball hits the ground. We can see here the ball touches the ground. So therefore two things occur. He loses control of the football and the ball touches the ground prior to him regaining control. Therefore the ruling on the field of a touchdown was changed to an incomplete pass.”
There you have it, straight from the NFL.