The New Orleans Saints almost pulled off one of the most bizarre plays of the NFL season on Sunday and if it would have happened, it might have broken the NFL rulebook.
With just under three minutes left to play in the game, Jordan Love hit Romeo Doubs for an 8-yard score that tied things up at 17, but with the extra point still pending. The extra point was obviously going to be a big one, because if the Packers made it, then it would put them on top 18-17 with 2:56 left to play.
And this is where the craziness started. As Anders Carlson went to kick the extra point, Saints defensive tackle Bryan Bresee decided to get creative: He grabbed the towel off of Packers long snapper Matt Orzech and he threw it in the air in an attempt to block the kick. The crazy thing is that it appears that the towel ALMOST hit the football, as you can see on the broadcast feed below.
I assumed my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it does in fact appear the Saints tried blocking a PAT with the long snapper's towel pic.twitter.com/pFkty1bhoO
— Salvatore (@Fear_Jaire) September 25, 2023
Due to the angle, it's tough to tell how close the towel came to hitting the football, but we also have another angle, which you can see below.
can't say I've seen anyone use the long snapper's towel to try to block a kick
— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) September 25, 2023
banner year for innovation on FG blocks pic.twitter.com/yJeosi1Thw
If you pause that video at the two-second mark, it appears that the towel did, in fact, come extremely close to hitting the football.
In the screen grab below, you can see the ball next to the towel.
Although a towel wouldn't actually block the kick, it would certainly be enough to throw the ball off course, which might have caused Carlson to miss the extra point.
If that would have happened, the officiating crew would have had quite the situation on its hands. There's no direct written rule in the NFL rulebook that forbids what Bresee did. If the extra point had missed due to the towel, the officiating crew likely would have had to flag Bresee for a "palpably unfair act," which is a penalty that's almost never called in the NFL.
If you've ever wondered whether a player could stand at the back of the end zone and try to block a field goal, the answer is no. Here's that rule from the rulebook:
"Goaltending by a defensive player leaping up to deflect a kick as it passes above the crossbar of a goalpost. The referee may award three points for a palpably unfair act," the rulebook states.
A palpably unfair act can be anything that goes against the spirit of the rulebook or the integrity of the game. If the towel had hit the ball and caused the kick to miss, the refs could have thrown the palpably unfair flag and awarded the Packers one point, which would have been wild, considering Carlson's PAT ended up being the game-winning point.
It's also possible that no flag would have been thrown and if that had happened after the towel caused the kick to miss, there would have understandably been total outrage in Green Bay.
The good news for the NFL is that the league didn't have to deal with this situation because the kick went in, but don't be surprised if there's a small revision to the rulebook next year that specifically outlaws plays like this.
In the end, the Packers ended up beating the Saints 18-17 in a game where they trailed 17-0 at one point.
