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NFL instant replay official addresses Tyler Shough fumble ruling
It wouldn't be a New Orleans Saints game day without some criticism of the officials. This week, head referee Adrian Hill's crew missed several flagrant calls on the Las Vegas Raiders while penalizing the Saints defense to the tune of four free first down conversions (New Orleans received a single one themselves after having five in the first two weeks). But their most egregious decision came when quarterback Tyler Shough was struck as he wound up to throw a forward pass, resulting in a fumble recovered by the Raiders defense. It was a frustrating echo of something the Saints experienced just two weeks ago.
Here's what NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth had to say in a postgame pool report to the Times-Picayune | Advocate's Luke Johnson:
"With the ruling on the field of a fumble recovered by the defense, that is an automatic booth review which any automatic booth review is either confirmed with New York to confirm the ruling on the field, or we stop the game if we need to. On that play, we were able to confirm that the defenders' right hand hit the ball and the hand. The quarterback clearly lost control of the ball before his hand was coming forward. We were able to confirm the ruling on the field."