There were some controversial moments in the Washington Commanders’ 38-31 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. There was the third-down catch by Commanders wide receiver Jahan Dotson that was later ruled by NFL officials not to be a catch, only to be challenged by Washington and upheld.
It was a strange sequence.
However, before that play, there was another controversial catch that significantly altered the game’s trajectory.
With 5:38 remaining in the third quarter, Washington led Philadelphia, 17-10. The Eagles faced a fourth-and-4 from the Commanders’ 45-yard line when QB Jalen Hurts found WR DeVonta Smith streaking across the field. The pass is complete for 17 yards and a first down. However, upon further review, the pass appeared incomplete as the ball hit the ground.
Washington’s sideline was jumping up and down, wanting head coach Ron Rivera to challenge the call. He didn’t. The Eagles got back to the line of scrimmage and ran the next play. Two plays later, Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 25-yard touchdown to tie the game.
While we know there is a low bar for NFL officiating, there was no way the Smith “catch” wouldn’t have been overturned. It was obvious. And it was costly. It would have been Washington’s ball with around five minutes remaining in the third quarter, holding a 17-10 lead.
Check it out:
Devonta smith got credited with a catch for this lmaoo pic.twitter.com/DM0VGj4keX
— John (@iam_johnw) October 29, 2023
That was ruled a catch.
So, why didn’t Rivera challenge the play?
Ron Rivera never saw the replay of DeVonta Smiths 4th down catch, and that’s why he didn’t challenge pic.twitter.com/jigmtPlBuE
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 29, 2023
Here’s exactly what Rivera said.
“I didn’t see it on the screen,” Rivera said via Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post. “I was looking up at the screen to see if there was something that could help me with it. Then I was waiting to hear somebody upstairs on if they had seen it or not. We hadn’t seen the replay, so we weren’t sure. [The Eagles] did their hurry-up, ran up to the line, and snapped the ball. You almost think that in that amount of time, somebody else could have looked at it and saw if it was complete.”
We can’t assume we know what Rivera knew at the time. But that reasoning doesn’t sound good. Yes, the Eagles hurried to the line of scrimmage, but there should be someone upstairs watching every play, telling you if it was worth a challenge or not. Where was that person?
It was another bad look for Rivera and his coaching staff, and it proved costly.