Cincinnati Bengals safety Jordan Battle blew his chance to score a touchdown when he fumbled the football through the end zone after recovering a fumble himself during Sunday's NFL game in Tennessee.
It happened with just over three minutes left in the third quarter as the Bengals already held a 31-14 lead. The Titans had 1st and 10 on the Bengals 33-yard line. Backup quarterback Mason Rudolph took the shotgun snap and handed off to running back Tony Pollard, who fumbled the ball. Battle scooped the ball up and began running up the sideline with the help of a couple of teammates leading the way. Battle managed Rudolph's desparation attempt to tackle him and ran the rest of the way for a touchdown...or so we thought.
For some reason, Battle tried to switch hands with the football on the 5-yard line, then lost his grip on it and knocked it throught the back of the end zone. The play was originally ruled a touchdown as the officials on the field ruled that he broke the plane of the end zone before losing the ball, but the replay clearly showed that he lost the ball in the field of play. The end result was a touchback, with the Titans getting the ball back on the 20-yard line and Battle looking really foolish.
brooooooooooooo, you just gotta cross the goal line pic.twitter.com/mZcMElQAYm
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) December 15, 2024
Battle surely wishes he could have a do-over on this one. It's rare enough that defensive players get a chance to score themselves, but to blow it due to poor ball handling when you are so close to the end zone is inexcusable. At least with a blown dunk in the NBA, a player can make up for it the next time down the floor. Who knows when Battle will have a chance to score again?
Fortunately for Battle's sake, the blown scoring attempt did not have an impact on the game. Aside from his embarrassing moment, Battle finished second on the Bengals with 10 tackles (5 solo) as the Bengals held on to win the game 37-27.
[@cjzero]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
