NEW ORLEANS -- The Saints have now been on the losing end of two controversial calls regarding quarterback fumbles this season.
The Saints (1-2) walked away from Sunday's game, a 35-27 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders (3-0), just as confused about the application of the call as they were in Week 1.
In Week 1, Saints edge rusher Chase Young sacked Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, whose ensuing fumble was picked up and run back for a touchdown. That call was overturned and ruled an incomplete pass because of a little-known rule that states any intentional movement of the quarterback's hand starts a forward pass, even if the ball goes backward.
On Sunday, Saints quarterback Tyler Shough appeared to have begun the throwing process when he was hit in the arm and sacked by Raiders linebacker Malcolm Koonce. The football was knocked out of his hand and recovered by defensive end Maxx Crosby. This time, the call stood as a fumble.
"I thought I threw it. Me, personally, I thought my arm was going forward," Shough said. "I'm not exactly sure on the rule. It doesn't really matter to me. I've got to get it out sooner regardless."
As Saints fans rained down boos, the videoboard in the Caesars Superdome zoomed in on Young, who shook his head and mimicked throwing an incomplete pass.
"I thought his intent was he threw it forward," Young said later in the locker room, emphasizing the word intent. "But never mind."
"Intent" was the word referee Alan Eck used in Detroit, citing the quarterback's intent to throw the ball forward.
Mark Butterworth, the NFL's vice president of instant replay, said in a pool report Sunday that the defender's right hand hit the ball and Shough's hand.
"The quarterback clearly lost control of the ball before his hand was coming forward," Butterworth said.
Butterworth was asked about the similarities between the two plays and said: "All we are looking for is the hand coming forward with control to make it an incomplete pass. In the play that happened today, the hand was not coming forward with control of the ball."
Butterworth previously said in a pool report regarding the Detroit play: "If the defender contacts the passer prior to the passer starting his throwing motion, it can be ruled as a backward pass. Because Goff had already started his throwing motion, and then the defender contacted him, it is therefore a forward pass."
The strip sack of Shough was the first of four straight turnovers for the Saints in the fourth quarter, which aided Las Vegas in a late comeback. New Orleans led 27-16 midway through the third quarter before 19 unanswered Raiders points.