For the second consecutive week, many fantasy football matchups have been decided by a controversial, late-game fumble on ‘Monday Night Football.’
In Week 1, there were questions about whether Chicago Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore was down before his last-second lateral against Minnesota Vikings.
This time, the question isn’t about whether there was a fumble. It’s about whether Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert or rookie running back Omarion Hampton was responsible for it.
Here’s what to know about the play and the NFL’s fumble rule.
Did Justin Herbert fumble in Chargers vs. Raiders?
Yes, Herbert fumbled twice and was credited with a lost fumble on the Chargers’ penultimate drive of their 20-9 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. It came after he and Hampton botched a routine handoff exchange.
Hampton was hit by Maxx Crosby as the rookie was attempting to secure the ball. That caused it to bounce to the ground and into the waiting arms of Raiders defensive tackle Adam Butler.
The fumble being charged to Herbert vexed many fantasy football managers and left them questioning whether a stat correction will be coming.
That said, it appears the official scorer may have been correct to credit the turnover to Herbert.
NFL fumble rule, explained
‘Loss of player possession by unsuccessful execution of attempted handing is a fumble charged to the player that last had possession,’ the rulebook states. ‘A muffed handoff (legal or illegal) is a fumble, unless either player immediately regains control of the ball, and the ball remains alive.’
Hampton never appeared to firmly possess the ball on the botched exchange. That likely means the fumble will remain a part of Herbert’s statline from Monday’s game.
How do NFL stat corrections work?
According to Elias’ ‘Contact Us’ page, the sports data company meets with the NFL every Wednesday to review plays like Herbert’s fumble and determine whether a stat needs to be changed.
Most often, these stat corrections have fantasy football implications, so the NFL announces any official changes on its official fantasy website. Given that Wednesday is review day for the two parties, the league usually announces which stat corrections become official on Thursday morning after the week of action that concluded the previous Monday.
Fantasy managers with or playing against Herbert or Hampton in tightly contested Week 1 matchups will need to wait until then to see if the fumble will remain a part of the quarterback’s statline or if it will be transferred to the rookie running back.
But again, given the letter of the NFL law, it appears likely to stick with Herbert.
USA TODAY Sports’ Jack McKessy also contributed to this report.