Derek Carr keeps trying to defy the NFL rule that makes a fumble into the opponent's end zone and out of bounds a touchback and a turnover. He keeps getting denied.
Nearly two years after the Raiders quarterback coughed up the ball on a run short of the goal-line pylon and cost his team a victory in a devastating 20-17 loss to Dallas, he did it again during Oakland's Week 7 game in Green Bay.
Instead of reaching far enough to score a touchdown late in the second quarter against the Packers to give the Raiders a potential 17-14 halftime lead, Carr with his fumble ended up giving QB counterpart Aaron Rodgers a last-gasp possession that turned into an 80-yard drive. As expected, many on social media once again lambasted the NFL and the rule that didn't go in Carr's favor. But it's a good rule.
Derek Carr did the dumbest thing he can do and for the second time in his career no less. pic.twitter.com/cezTpUH4Kh
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 20, 2019
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Feferee Alex Kemp and his officiating crew made the right call. From the condensed version of the NFL rulebook: "A fumble that goes forward and out of bounds will return to the fumbling team at the spot of the fumble unless the ball goes out of bounds in the opponent’s end zone. In this case, it is a touchback."
Said Carr after the game, via The Athletic: "Trying to extend with one hand is not smart. It's stupid. ... That's my fault. I let my team down."
The Carr play served as our second reminder in three years of why that rule exists. Below is what we wrote when he did it two years ago; upon further review, Sporting News' take on the rule stands.
"There are consequences when you fumble near your own end zone: a safety that gives the opponent two points and the ball back on a free kick, or a touchdown by the defense. There should be consequences some 100 yards the other way, too.
"Rewarding a team for something literally defined as a clumsy act is silly. Sure, the offense can recover its own fumble to save a possession elsewhere on the field and score in the end zone, but by definition, it is more rewarded for, you know, the recovery effort.
"So the argument against the touchback rule is that the tie goes to the defense. When a fumble occurs in bounds in the end zone, it's either recovered for a touchdown by the offense or a touchback for the defense.
"To understand the rule, it comes down to this: Why, exactly, is the offense the one that gets screwed? Simple: In those situations, the offense carries more the burden of execution; it is the prosecution to the defense's, well, defense.
"The defense is innocent of giving up a touchdown until it is proven guilty by the offense. Evidence that isn't undisputed (or incapable of being overturned) shouldn't go in the offense's favor."
There's nothing wrong with the touchback rule. It's right to hold Carr and the Raiders responsible for another big mistake in another big moment.
