https://twitter.com/oaktheman/status/807104976891867137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
With about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Raiders trailing the Chiefs 21-13, a scrambling Derek Carr spotted a wide-open Amari Cooper way down the field. Carr let the ball fly and what should have been a 72-yard touchdown pass turned into an odd-looking incompletion.
Did Cooper lose the ball in the lights? Did the wind in Kansas City affect a throw from a quarterback with a mangled pinkie finger? Or was it something more sinister?
After watching replays on highlights for @RAIDERS vs @Chiefs – I am convinced that the pass from Carr to Cooper hit NBC's spider cam wire.
— Jason McCallum (@JMacSC) December 9, 2016
That dude works for ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and followed that tweet with another that said he had no proof to back that statement, but this is Twitter and he works for a big name, and since a guy with 500 followers that calls himself “@oakman” said this happened too, people began to wonder if Carr’s pass skimmed a cable line in the sky.
NBC told Deadspin there’s no way that happened.
Fred Gaudelli, executive producer of NBC’s Sunday Night Football and Thursday Night Football, emailed us this:
No way Barry (Petchesky) – the camera is always behind the play and cables are really high over the surface. Look at the replay we showed from sky cam – if anything hits the wire it would effect a bump in the camera and you would see that on the air. Also look at the replay after the commercial – look how the ball comes off of Carr’s hand and his follow through – not his normal delivery.
So there you have it. Maybe you were looking to blame someone else for Cooper not catching what would have been a 14-point touchdown in your fantasy playoffs, but the fault lies with human error and the environment. And, I guess, you for starting Cooper in your playoffs.
(Deadspin)
