Intentional grounding flag picked up after discussion in Philly

The officials call the Broncos Bo Nix for intentional grounding but after discussion, pick the flag up.

What happened?

Nix can legally ground the ball if he is out of the pocket and the pass reaches the line of scrimmage on the fly. If there is an eligible receiver in the vicinity, that trumps those requirements. It is a close call to see if Nix is out of the pocket, but it is obvious that the pass didn’t reach the line of scrimmage on the fly.

Intentional grounding is a crew call. The referee has watch the quarterback for potential roughing the passer. The umpire, line judge and/or the down judge check on the pass and eligible receivers in the vicinity. They then come in to the referee, give the information and the referee then drops the flag.

The Broncos argued that receiver Adam Troutman was in the vicinity. Instant replay cannot intervene on whether or not he is in the vicinity. What most likely happened here is that a deep wing came in to say Troutman was coming back to the ball. That deep wing had a better and wider angle to see Troutman coming back to the ball. After that, Hill picked up the flag.

Usually the “front four” officials can handle intentional grounding. But when Hill announced the foul, the deep wing (possibly field judge Tra Boger) came in with the extra information that lead to foul being waved off.

It looks like the crew got to the right call, but the process was a little clunky.

(Cover photo from CBS)