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Marcus Thigpen Fumble A Good Call

November 16th, 2014

replay

Early in the game, Bucs punter returner Marcus Thigpen botched a Redskins punt. It could have been disastrous but the Tampa Bay defense held and a missed field goal by the Redskins allowed a deep sigh of relief.

The fumble was questionable enough that the Bucs screamed for a review. A review that never came. Per FOX rules guru Mike Pereira, only a replay official can decide to review the play. A coach cannot challenge the call.

Pereira explains in this FOX Sports video.

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9 Responses to “Marcus Thigpen Fumble A Good Call”

  1. Bucnnole Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    Cut him and put Page back in there.

  2. Major Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    I understand that it’s in the rules, but why is the rule against be challenged? It’s another play that could have been called wrong by the officials that a challenge could make it right. By the way, I agree that it was a muff, but again, what if he had not touched the ball? We would have still lost possession if the replay official was a secret Skin fan. The rules committee needs to clean this stuff up. I say everything should be challenge-able. What does it matter when coaches are limited to 3 challenges a half anyway?

  3. Brandon Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 7:08 pm

    He clearly touched the ball, who cares if it was reviewable. if it were reviewed, the play would have been upheld. BTW, all turnovers and scoring plays are reviewed so this one was probably clear cut enough that they didn’t feel the need to review.

  4. Jim Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    Marcus Thigpen, coming to a UPS truck near you soon.

  5. NewTampaChris Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    @Major

    All turnovers – including this one – are reviewed automatically by the replay official. Thigpen was ruled to have touched the ball, which he did.

    Our returners are like Spinal Tap drummers.

  6. Capt.Tim Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 7:27 pm

    It was a turnover.
    Lucky it didn’t cost us

  7. Pickgrin Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    I don’t care if Thigpen does have the ability to make big returns – if he is a “fumbler” (which was his reputation and why he was on the street to begin with) – then he is USELESS as a returner. Would rather have a punt returner who fair catches cleanly every time than a potentially dynamic returner who fumbles the ball away every other game.

    Page was reliable in that respect all of last year and also had pretty decent average return yards per attempts as well. I still don’t get it…

  8. Major Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 7:47 pm

    @NewTampaChris

    Without Mike Pereira saying that all turnovers are automatically reviewed by the replay officials, leads me to believe that it’s up to the replay official’s discretion to get involved, if he so chooses, and then only to confirm the ruling on the field. My question wasn’t whether the play can be reviewed but rather why can it not be challenged?

    Now another question would be, if it is always automatically reviewed, then why are they only allowed to confirm the ruling on the field? Can they and would they reverse the ruling without being challenged?

  9. willie.D Says:
    November 16th, 2014 at 8:12 pm

    pretty sure the Bucs returners fumbled 6 times this year. Eric page fumbled 3 times all last year and one was on a messed up desperation razzle dazzle play where Owusu dropped the handoff. just give Eric page a chance