The "Thursday Night Football" matchup between the Eagles and Texans demonstrated once again that star players get all the calls — even if they're on the offensive line.
The star in question was All-Pro center Jason Kelce, who should have been called for a penalty in Philadelphia's game-opening drive. The penalty in question — assisting the runner — occurred when Kelce attempted to pull Kenneth Gainwell into the end zone following a short screen pass to the running back.
Gainwell ultimately fell short of the goal line. But a few Texans defensive players, including Kurt Hinish, pointed to Kelce, suggesting he should have been called for a penalty. Officials kept their flags holstered, however, setting up third-and-goal from the 3.
A couple of plays before the Miles Sanders’ TD, Jason Kelce tried to drag Kenneth Gainwell into the end zone 😂
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 4, 2022
(🎥: @HAFFnHAFF_TPL) pic.twitter.com/R2540Fkpw3
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Two plays later, Miles Sanders ran it in on fourth-and-goal from the 1 to tie the game at 7-7. The Eagles ultimately won 29-17, though the missed penalty occurred too early in the game to say definitively that it impacted the outcome. Regardless, several observers noted how officials missed the call, which would have made for a harder scoring opportunity for Philadelphia.
Indeed, Amazon's NFL rules expert Terry McAulay said on the broadcast that the league this week sent a video regarding assisting the runner. Officials in Thursday's game still missed it. ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio cited a league source who called the missed call "utter incompetence" on the part of the officials.
That said, the league's "assisting the runner" penalty has not been called since the 1992 season (as noted by Twitter account Football Zebras). Prior to 2006, the league prohibited teams from pushing a runner forward; from that season onward, pushing a runner forward was legal, though pulling still was considered an infraction.
One the officials missed on Thursday, or otherwise ignored.
