Washington Commanders

How did the Browns lose this fumble when their running back still had the ball?

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:03 p.m. ET

Chris Chase

For the Cleveland Browns, when it rains, it pours ... and then it pours even harder.

Above is a picture of Duke Johnson, running back for those Browns. It was snapped five seconds after he put the ball on the turf during a crucial drive Sunday against the Redskins. In the picture, Johnson is holding the very football he had earlier fumbled, leading to the fairly logical reasoning that Johnson had recovered his own fumble and the ball should stay with the Browns because, you know, he had the ball. The officials said otherwise.

Here's how it went down: The hapless Browns were down 24-20 on Sunday when, with about 10 minutes left, Johnson took a handoff and rumbled 5 yards for a first down into Redskins territory. But as Johnson was being tackled, Josh Norman punched the ball out of his grasp and it bounced around the turf. After a surprisingly quick recovery, the Redskins were awarded the ball, stalling the Browns drive. On Cleveland's next possession, a Norman interception led to a game-clinching Washington touchdown. The turning point had been the Johnson fumble.

So how did the Redskins get the ball on that fumble? It's complicated.

Here's Johnson fumbling.

And here's the ball hitting the turf. It didn't hit cleanly, as it was immediately kicked by Will Compton, who's crouched down in the pile next to Josh Norman.

After that, it's a mystery. Who knows what goes on at the bottom of those piles. There are stories about hair pulling, eye gouging and less chivalrous methods to try to get a loose ball.

None of those unseemly tactics would have been needed this time because there wasn't really a scrum. Well, there was, but Johnson had already emerged from it with the ball.

But coming out with the ball doesn't equal recovering the ball, so the question is: Did Johnson recover the football or did he grab it away from the Redskins player (Compton), who was credited with recovering the fumble?

Johnson thinks he did. "I thought I recovered it," he said. But he also manned up and acknowledged the obvious: "At the end of the day, I can't fumble.''

After watching this replay like the Zapruder film, I'm not as convinced as the rest of the conspiracy theorists on the Internet that the Browns got jobbed here. That's not to say Johnson didn't recover the fumble, but watching the play over and over and over again there's no arguing that there's at least an equal chance Compton fell on the ball (look at the middle of both piles in the two pictures above -- that's where the ball is, not on the left side where Johnson is), heard the official's call and let go of the football/had it snatched away because a Browns offensive lineman was pinning him down, probably on the assumption that the ball was still in the pile.

That's what Browns All-Pro tackle Joe Thomas said official Sarah Thomas told him.

Via Cleveland.com:

Replay neither confirms nor denies that and, essentially, that's why this was a non-controversy during the game. The ball was awarded to the Redskins and there was no proof to say it shouldn't be. Replay wouldn't have done anything. That doesn't mean the call was right or wrong; it's just another sign that the sun may shine on a dog some days, but it almost never shines on a dawg.