Originally Posted by
MarkS
Well, there's more to it than just losing the timeout. We had already challenged once (successfully). If we challenged again and lost, we'd be out of challenges for the rest of the game. Considering it was still the 1st half, and the game was still close, that's pretty significant.
In retrospect, it seems obvious to challenge. At the time though, you're weighing the following possibilities:
- ruling goes in your favor: get the turnover, have the ball in Giants territory,
- ruling goes against you (1): the pass is ruled incomplete, you gain nothing and lose the ability to challenge a call for the rest of the game
- ruling goes against you (2): the play is ruled a fumble, BUT the refs decide the play was never stopped (this may actually be true: I rewatched the play, and on TV, you never hear a whistle blow, or see a ref wave his arms). the head ref then holds that the play continued without interruption, and both fumbles count, giving the ball back to the Giants.
3rd outcome may be a long-shot, but impossible? Not if you've been watching the same games I have all these years
Given that there's a lot that can possibly go wrong, and you're GUARANTEED to get the ball if you do nothing, a punt starts to look like a pretty good option.
Especially when you have about 20 seconds to decide, and no replay to look at before deciding.