In Sunday's game between the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans, there were a lot of questionable decisions.
But the Titans had one towards the end of the game that had many confused because it allowed for the Patriots to complete a comeback and force overtime.
After Marcus Jones had an impressive 44-yard punt return in the first quarter, it seemed like the smart decision for the Titans would be to punt it out of bounds and not give Jones the opportunity to run it back so late in the game.
But the ball went right into Jones' hands and he managed to get an additional 25 yards, bringing the ball to the 50-yard line and giving Drake Maye solid field position for his two-minute drive.
After the game, Titans head coach Brian Callahan was asked that exact question.
Why not kick the ball out of bounds?
"Yeah, I was more concerned of trying to hang the ball enough to go cover. We'd like to get it more towards the sideline, but didn't get hit that way," he explained. "But yeah, those are all things we were trying to get done in that moment. So just like any player, there's some times where you don't execute it at the level we need. And we did a decent job getting down there. But year, we would like to pin him down there a little deeper and not let him get out."
So based on this, it seems like that might have been the plan, but the punter couldn't follow through.
For the Patriots, this play made a huge difference. But, while it was a mistake by the Titans, they came away with the win, so they certainly won't be thinking about this for too long.
