Tennessee head coach Brian Callahan admitted Monday that his interpretation of the NFL catch rule was “wrong” and that the Titans should have challenged a key play in Sunday’s 20-12 loss to the Denver Broncos.
“Ultimately, my interpretation of the rule was wrong. I’ll own it,” Callahan told reporters Monday. “We should have challenged the play. And that’s pretty much all I can say about it. I’ll own the mistake. We should have challenged it, and that’s where it stands.”
Callahan turned heads when speaking to the media Sunday about his decision not to challenge a third-quarter call that rookie wide receiver Elic Ayomanor was out of bounds. The catch would have been good for 21 yards.
With the Titans trailing 13-12, Ayomanor caught a pass from quarterback Cam Ward but was ruled to have come down out of bounds. A replay showed that Ayomanor appeared to get his elbow down in bounds before any other part of his body touched the white line.
The NFL rule states a pass is complete when a player secures the ball and “touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands.”
Callahan chose not to challenge the play, and when asked about it in the postgame press conference Sunday appeared to misunderstand the rule, saying, “You’ve got to get a foot in bounds too. We didn’t have a clean look at whether his foot was down as well. An elbow doesn’t equal two feet, so his foot would’ve had to come down as well. The call from upstairs was that it wasn’t worth challenging.”
When asked Monday whether other staff members in the organization should have been able to tell him the correct call, Callahan put the fault on himself.
“My process and how those things get relayed, I’ll keep those in house. But, you know, I’m the head football coach of the team, and my job is to make those decisions, and I didn’t do a good enough job in that moment,” Callahan said. “I should have challenged it, and it probably would have resulted in a potentially explosive play. So, should have challenged the play.”
When questioned again whether other members of his staff also misinterpreted the rule, Callahan doubled down on taking sole responsibility for the mistake.
“Again, I should have challenged the play. And the communication of how those things happened are all part of the process that we’ve got to do a better job of overall,” Callahan said. “But I’m in charge of that and I didn’t do a good enough job there. So, again, should have challenged the play.”
