The Buffalo Bills vs. Kansas City Chiefs game in the Divisional Round of the 2024 NFL Playoffs took a pair of wild twists in the third quarter.
With Kansas City leading 27-24, the Bills tried to run a fake punt play that failed miserably and gave the ball back to the Chiefs at the Buffalo 32-yard line. Kansas City immediately had an explosive play by Isiah Pacheco that put the team on the 1-yard line. That’s when madness started again: Patrick Mahomes found Mecole Hardman in the flat, and he fumbled the ball out of the end zone for a turnover and touchback.
The refs initially ruled that Hardman was down, but Buffalo’s challenge was successful and the play was overturned. Watch it here:
TOUCHBACK???
— NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) January 22, 2024
WHAT DO YOU SEE? pic.twitter.com/iDrRMgG0md
That is so close. It seemed like the refs might not have enough evidence to overturn the call on the field, but they did it in the end. The call gave the Bills new life in a game where they were quickly losing momentum.
The fumble touchback rule is one of the biggest game-changers in the NFL. It’s not very popular.
The NFL, the competition committee and owners plan to revisit the fumble-through-endzone safety rule this off-season. It rarely happens, but some feel the penalty is too punitive.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 22, 2024
What a rule. The most ridiculously punitive rule in sports - the touchback for a fumble into the end zone and out of bounds. Should be the team with the ball gets it back at the 20. Not the other team.
— Graham Couch (@Graham_Couch) January 22, 2024
man the fumble touchback rule gets a hundred times funnier when it happens to you. i love this rule. never change it
— Jon Bois (@jon_bois) January 22, 2024
Chiefs-Bills is everything we hoped it would be so far.
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