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I never understood why immediately dropping the ball was ever supposed to be considered such an "in your face" to begin with.

What I don't understand is how you could see the Jackson play and think "Yes. That's something I want to do."

I keep telling people that this is the same exact thing as missing a base after hitting a home run. It's the stupidest thing you can possibly do.

this has got to be the single most frustrating thing to see on a football field

Every single football coach should make this required watching.

That scene of everyone on the sideline freaking out at 12:17 is hilarious. Reminds me of the giant "STOP" sign that they unrolled for Forrest Gump.

Wow this happened a lot more than I was aware of.

Once upon a time in the early origins of the game, touchdown meant the ball had to be literally touched to the ground in the end zone for it to be called a score. It's a requirement in rugby still.

One thing I would teach if I was a football coach... do not drop the football for any reason until you run through the back of the end zone. Even then, make sure a zebra has two hands in the air in the touchdown symbol before you drop the football.

As a rugby player, it boggles my mind how careless these players can be with the ball. It's like they forget they need the ball to accomplish the score.

I'm a lifelong Ducks fan. This kind of mistake terrifies me.

The self-inflicted Leon Lett play. It doesn't come dumber.

There is also the forced fumble in Superbowl XXVII when Leon Lett stuck the ball out running for a touchdown after recovering a fumble, and Don Beebe knocked it out of his hand. Different but in the same spirit of these examples.

You didin't spend enough time on the 14-point fumble in the Utah Oregon game. That is the king of 1-yard-line fumble plays

The old saying "you had one job to do" comes to mind

you almost wonder why somebody made up a rule that you have to touch the ball down to the ground

Broncos fan here. When that play happened against the Ravens, one of the Broncos, who at the time was a star linebacker, jumped in to recover the football, and then he got injured for doing so. I was watching that live on TV as it happened. I was yelling "STUPID!!" at the player for dropping the football before the endzone.

That ball must get awfully heavy after running with it for so long

Never understood why players think it looks cool to try and drop the ball right after crossing the goal line. So damn dumb. I remember DeSean doing it in the Army All-Star game and then again in the NFL so dumb.

I don't get it. It's simple. Just hold on to the damn ball. The end zone is freaking 10 yards long. You can wait 5 more yards to drop the dang ball.

Celebrate IN the end zone WITH the football. Not as you enter 😂

I played football my entire upbringing, and not once did this concept even cross my mind. After scoring, I always looked for the nearest ref, and handed him the ball. I miss old school football.

every drop is followed by an endzone celebration. the root cause is lack of humility

Every year it was ruled a fumble and ruling 1971: Steelers:touchback 2008: Eagles: POS at 1 2012: Kansas: POS at 1 2013: Broncos: touchback (1st instance called correct on spot) 2013: TTech: POS at 1 2014: Oregon: (1st time returned back by other team) 2017: TCU (1st time premature fumble team recovers their fumble for the score)

That's an immediate cut for me, you just can't do that and if you're selfish enough to make that mistake, you have no business playing.

Of all the people close to 100k this man def deserves it the most. Hang in there man I love your vids

We do drills where if there's a fumble you fall on the ball. Do not try to scoop and score, just try to fall on the ball and gain possession. Too many chances to recover a fumble are lost because someone wants to pick it up and run. Another drill we do is . Everyone lines up at the 50 yard line in a single line. On the whistle, player has a ball and sprints to the end zone where they have a certain amount of time to get there. They sprint through the end zone, around the goalpost and then they hand the ball to the official. The official being the guy who previously sprinted down. That guy will run back to the 50 with the ball. Drill repeats itself until done. Even lineman do it as well, just in case. It's good for physical conditioning and you also instill into the players to hold onto that ball.

Love this style of content from you Isaac keep it up 😭🤞🏾

Impressive research and video compilation!

fascinating video Issac, I like your editing style and your delivery is great. do more of these for sure

This was an excellent video man

Love the vids man the editing is great!

Watching all these in a row rose my heart rate lol

next level stuff ike

One thing that is mind blowing about the whole this is they had instant access to Replays on the broadcast and simply chose not to institute for soooo long.

I knew DeSean would be featured. His special play has been admired by so many high school and college players that you can watch them imitating their idol on a frequent basis ;)

Congrats on that video sponsorship my man, love to see it

I was watching that 2015 OSU/OK game and screaming at the TV that he dropped that ball early. No players picked it up and no coaches challenged the play. They game goes to commercial after kicking the extra point, then first thing back after commercial the commentators review the play in slow motion showing the gaffe. OSU ended up winning by multiple touchdowns, so it did not matter in the long run.

The only thing better is when a guy does that "dive into the endzone" thing and his knee lands before the goal line.

As a lifelong Oregon State fan, I call it the "Chad Johnson" drop. 😆

As a Utah fan it was immaculate to get one of these plays back this season.

This is actually a lot more common then even this video makes it seem and it's not just early celebrations dives , extensions and sometimes just flat out drops. The reason this seems like a new phenomena is the number of televised games and recency bias

I hate these "look at me" plays and players

Touchdowns are hard to come by for teams and players, even for high-scoring teams, to not just hand the ball to the referee. The thing I don't understand, is why are coaches not telling their players to pounce on any ball they see on the ground?

I can’t believe this has happened so often, and also can’t believe you were able to find all those examples where a TD was awarded. If I were a coach this would be a borderline “kick you off the team” offense

As soon as I saw this video title, I immediately knew what player you were going to lead this with. It's also funny that referees weren't catching these blatant gaffes for decades. It's even worse that coaches weren't doing anything about this, particularly when it started to be common place and getting coverage, complete with referees starting to take notice.

I'll never forget watching Jackson in that all american game. Wild.

i like to imagine there’s an invisible barrier forcing the ball to not cross the goalline

Similar thing happened around that time with wide receivers dropping/throwing the football the instant their feet established in the end zone for a TD catch. I don’t believe it ever really cost anyone points, but I do believe that’s what Calvin Johnson was doing during the infamous “Calvin Johnson rule” non catch that threw the NFL into chaos for years to come.

Not sure about college, but in the NFL, this should be a finable play from the team. Make players pay a $50k fine and this stupidity goes away over night.

Great video! It's crazy how this has happened as many times as it has 🤦‍♂️

I am typically here for punting content … but this topic is tremendous and an opportunity for a fuller documentary with interviews and such (by those who do that extensive work). Great job.

Helluva video!

Great video. It happened another time in 2021 that you didn't mention (probably because it's an obscure play and had no impact on the result of the game) Western Kentucky @ Louisville, September 11th, 2021 early in the fourth quarter, Ahmari Huggins-Bruce ran 80 yards to score a 95 yard TD but dropped the ball 3 feet before crossing the goal line.

Al McGuire, the hoops coach and broadcaster, once related a story about how if you're all alone after a steal, an open path to the basket, you STILL want to do a two-handed gorilla dunk just to leave nothing to chance. Having two hands on the football as you near the goal line is the same sort of thing. You can even do a rugby-type dive, somersault and spike the ball, but it would help if, y'know, you had both hands holding the ball when you reached the end zone.

Sterling Sharpe was guy who wouldn’t drop a ball at the goal line because he kept that ball until he got to the sidelines, then he brought it home later.

I think the last one the Washington “pick 6” was the first instance of a commentator noticing the fumble in the moment. Shoutout Jason Benetti

I call it the Kaelin Clay play

In 2022 the only example I know of is the Cardinals-Raiders game (week 3 i think?). Raiders fumbled the ball and Byron Murphy Jr. returned it for the walk-off TD. He pulled a jackson but it seemingly was just over the line and stood as a touchdown after a quick review.

You haven’t scored until you’ve scored

I was at that game vs utah where Oregon scoop n scored. Went from heartbreak to elation in a second. Crazy season

Good breakdown I.p.

As an Alabama fan, I remember the Mark Barron pick! He about gave me a heartastroke with that pick six. You know Coach Saban had his ass running that next practice

I remember a couple of times Vince Young did it but it was never called out.

Amazing video

Great video

the quintessential "I'm more important than the ball"

I remember a game between the Vikings and the Lions where a Viking receiver (I believe his name was Sammy White) caught a long pass and held the ball over his head as he was running into the end zone. Lem Barney of the Lions caught him before he crossed the end zone and knocked the ball out and recovered it. Showboating has become a part of football. For whatever his fault were Woody Hayes made his players toss the ball to the ref after scoring.

My favorite 'celebration too soon' thing happened maybe 20 years ago, I can't remember the teams or the players involved, but a WR makes a great catch in the endzone, runs directly to the DB he beat and does a back flip in his face. A moment later they realize the catch was out of bounds and the DB immediately does a back flip in front of the WR. A just don't understand the showboating culture, if I were a manager and one of my players did something like this I'd pull him from the game immediately and maybe let him sit out the next game to.

I will never understand how players think this is a good idea ever.

Good one

Once upon a time, there was rule called a touch down. Had to touch the ball down in the endzone for the score. Dropping the ball short, like seen here, shows players that are full of ego. Seems like when they get to the big leagues they forget too many fundamentals they've been taught as a kid. Baseball players especially.

the first person i ever saw do this was pat tilley in 1985. the st louis cardinals were playing the cowboys on a monday night. tilley caught a long td pass from neil lomax but spiked the ball before he crossed the goal line. the commentators saw it and everybody watching the game.

It's an optical illusion. The player thinks he's 2 or 3 feet into the end zone when he's an inch outside of it

Great video, Isaac. You missed Mizzou-Auburn 2022, which led to Mizzou losing the game in overtime.

When something like this happen I always think “oh man if that happened to me I’d never be able to get back on the field”

Sponsor segment was crazy!!!!😂

The Kaelin Clay Utah drop was probably the most damaging to the team. Utah went from being up 14 to having 60 points dropped on them 💀

Love the referees making calls before they happen.

I saw it happen in person to Eastern Washington University in the FCS playoffs in either 2011 or 2012. On a punt return I believe. EWU ended up winning so it didn't have an effect on the outcome, but I can still remember the groaning of the fans when they showed the replay

As weird as it is to drop it as the runner it’s almost as irritating when defenders don’t go for the drop

Good unique video

Jerry Rice had one of these, but because he was Jerry Rice (this is during the 89-90 season) and there wasn't any replay at the time, it stayed a TD, but he clearly, on the replays, loses control of the ball at the 1 and fumbles it out the back of the end zone. It was against the Saints at the Superdome (where they later murdered John Elway in SB 24, lol)

I was at that Clemson game. We lose that game and we don’t make the national championship game

1999 Oklahoma v Texas. OU receiver Antwon Savage dropped a touchdown at the 1 yard line. Was still called a TD though.

Actually, part of me kinda loves this - cocky arrogance getting its just reward: utter humiliation.

Happened in the CFL Too

Eric Dickerson did it late in his career ... I'm searching for the exact game. He spiked the ball on the 2 yard line and everyone had to line up at the 2, where he ran it in. It was only time he did it in the pros, afaik

"Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football." John Heisman

It is not so surprising. A skilled athlete’s brain is predicting where it WILL BE not where it is.

Were there any articles or quotes from the players explaining why they couldn’t wait one more step to get rid of the ball? And what happened to spiking the ball wasn’t that the ultimate power move, or did that become illegal for taunting or something?

I wish they would make a rule: intentionally drop the ball and cause a review - 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty whether it was a touchdown or not!

I've been an Eagles fan my whole life and I remember the Desean Jackson gaff....oh, do I remember!!!!!!

8:50 pretty sure that after this Whittingham made it a rule on the team that you must give the football to the refs or drop it at the back of the end zone. As such Utah hasn't had a problem with it since. Also i was at that game and everyone was confused and once we found out, we let that player know our anger. Oh and 14:10 watch 52 at the end of that replay. He had his head in the game. Shame we barely lost that game.

If I was a Coach, you're getting benched the rest of the season.......and your back up is taking your spot. Just like I always said & lived by when I was in the Military......if you screw up the small things you KNOW you shouldn't do....I CANNOT trust you to do the Major Things

You didn’t have the one where Marcus Cooper on the Bears did it in the game against the Steelers. It was like 2017 or something

Excellent video. The music is very repetitive though and pretty annoying. But this is a solid video.

isaac the historian punts

It's not a stupid play. It's deliberate points shaving. Every pro sports league that advertises betting, especially live betting, is involved in fixing the outcomes of the games.