League admits to errors on fumble in Lions-Saints game

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With 5:39 left in the second quarter, Saints quarterback Drew Brees was hit while attempting a pass. The ball popped forward. Believing it to be an incomplete pass, an official blew his whistle. Lions linebacker Justin Durant thereafter recovered the ball and ran toward the end zone. Then, it was announced that the ruling on the field was that Brees had fumbled — and that Detroit had recovered.

“Referee Tony Corrente ruled the play was a fumble and a recovery by Detroit,” the league said in a statement emailed Sunday night to PFT. “However, during the play and before Detroit recovered the fumble, another official blew the whistle believing it was an incomplete pass. Because the ruling on the field was a fumble, and the whistle came before the recovery, the play is dead because of the inadvertent whistle and the Saints should have retained possession of the ball. New Orleans would then have had the choice to put the ball in play at the spot where possession was lost or to replay the down. Inadvertent whistles are not reviewable.

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