Patriots vs. Vikings: Controversial call takes Hunter Henry touchdown off the board

The New England Patriots appeared to make it two touchdowns on two second-half possessions against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night. However, what was originally ruled a scoring pass from quarterback Mac Jones to tight end Hunter Henry was taken off the board by the NFL’s replay process.

What had happened? Jones hit Henry close to the goal line on a third-down pass play, with the tight end reaching across the plane for the score — or so it seemed, at least.

The only problem was that Henry, as he was going down, bobbled the catch before eventually securing it. While that in itself should have been enough to complete the process of the catch, the officiating crew around referee Alex Kemp saw it differently.

Why was the call to overturn made, though? Because before the Patriots tight end was bobbling the catch, it ever so slightly appeared to hit the ground. This was deemed clear enough evidence to take the would-be touchdown off the board — a decision supported by the officiating experts at Football Zebras:

Instead of the Patriots going up 30-23 on the Jones-Henry connection, the play was ruled an incomplete pass to set up fourth down. New England had to settle for a 25-yard Nick Folk field goal to take a 26-23 lead over the Vikings.