Patriots recover fumble on Broncos’ backwards pass (Video)
By John Buhler
The New England Patriots recovered a fumble on a Peyton Manning backwards pass.
Up 7-0 on the New England Patriots, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning tried to complete a horizontal pass to his wide receiver deep in their own territory. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick wisely challenged the play, arguing that it was a backwards pass, allowing middle linebacker Jonathan Freeny to recover the fumble leading to a Steven Jackson rushing touchdown to cut the Patriots’ deficit to one.
When Belichick threw the challenge flag at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, one had to believe that the Patriots head coach saw something that the referees had missed. Being that he was down on the field, he could see that Manning’s pass was less than a yard from being completely lateral, allowing Freeny to recover the fumble.
Freeny would have scored for an easy paydirt against the Broncos, but the play was whistled dead before Belichick could throw the challenge flag. After further review, the AFC Championship Game officiating crew deemed that Manning’s pass was a backwards lateral and it would become New England’s ball near the Denver red zone.
In these high stakes games, Belichick always seems to gain an edge due to his tremendously observant nature. Many head coaches wouldn’t have the guts to throw a challenge flag in that situation, on the road down by a touchdown early in the first quarter in a conference championship game.
New England was rewarded for Belichick’s keen eye in forcing a Broncos’ turnover. Jackson would cap off the shortened drive with a goal-line score, but certain kicker Stephen Gostkowski would miss his first point after attempt in over 500 tries, as the Patriots would trail the Broncos, 7-6 after the Jackson touchdown run.