Stephen Holder
It became an oddly familiar sight: a player heading toward the end zone, well out of reach of defenders, a touchdown looking like a certainty.
And then…
Just before crossing the goal line, the ball carrier suffers a serious error in judgment and drops the ball, then sometimes attempts to recover it as it bounces out of the back of the end zone. After review, the apparent touchdown is canceled and replaced with a touchdown, giving possession to the opposing team.
This has happened in each of the last two weeks, and the teams victimized by these gaffes will meet Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts host the Arizona Cardinals (1 p.m. ET, Fox).
Cardinals running back Emari Demercado was the latest to make that mistake when he dropped the ball just short of the goal line during a 72-yard touchdown run against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. The ball bounced out of the back of the end zone for a touchback. Demercado’s mistake helped the Titans rally in the fourth quarter from a 21-6 deficit to win 22-21.
“I have to be smarter,” Demercado said in a somber postgame interview. “It’s that simple.”
A week earlier, Colts receiver Adonai Mitchell watched what would have been a dazzling 76-yard touchdown run turn into a mortifying experience. As he tried to celebrate by holding the ball in one hand in front of him, he dropped it inches from the goal line. He bounced out of the end zone for a touchback in what ultimately was a 7-point loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
“This play hurts,” he said afterwards. “It hurts a lot.”
This increased frequency has increased awareness among coaches and players.
“Every time it happens, you tell (the team) about it,” Titans coach Brian Callahan said. “We have a saying: “Letters and logos”. You will never, ever, ever, ever — under any circumstances — let go of the ball until you see the letters and logos in the end zone. And that’s something I know every team in the league preaches.
“It’s crazy that this continues to happen. I know it’s driven all over the league. And it shows up three or four times a year, which is crazy to me.”
And this is not a recent phenomenon.
Former Philadelphia Eagles star DeSean Jackson committed the gaffe against the Dallas Cowboys in front of a national television audience on “Monday Night Football” in 2008. Play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico marked the moment with a scathing call, calling it “one of the stupidest plays ever.”
What sets these incidents apart from others — like Cowboys DL Leon Lett’s thwarted celebration of a fumble recovery and comeback in Super Bowl XXVII — is that the ball was not knocked away by Demercado or Mitchell. Lett held the ball in celebration and Don Beebe of the Buffalo Bills dropped it, and he ran across the end zone for a touchback.
But here are examples of players dropping the ball without any assistance.
Demercado, Cardinals, 2025
Demarcado’s play was the longest of his career at 71 yards.
If only it was half a meter longer.
IT HAPPENED AGAIN 😱
Cardinals have a 72-yard touchdown run taken off the board pic.twitter.com/BMDvEYklhC
– NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 5, 2025
When he dropped the ball with 12:51 left, the Cardinals led 21-6 and the potential touchdown likely would have iced the game. Instead, Demercado became a footnote in history and Arizona lost.
It was a reality that his coach didn’t handle very well. Jonathan Gannon was seen yelling at Demercado on the sidelines following the play. Gannon apologized Monday, saying he regretted his behavior. And on Monday night, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Cardinals were fining Gannon $100,000 for his sideline altercation with Demercado. It was a stark contrast to the reaction of offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr., who consoled Demercado after the play and tried to reinforce him in a difficult moment.
“I wanted to be one of the first people to find him on the bench and say, ‘Hey, just scratch it and move on,'” Johnson said. “I wanted to make sure he heard that from someone right off the bat, and didn’t hear the stares and people muttering left and right. I wanted to create the energy around him.”
Mitchell, Colts, 2025
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better catch-and-run in the NFL this season than Mitchell’s 75-yard game against the Rams. He made a late adjustment to quarterback Daniel Jones’ underhand pass, then used a spin move to break free from two defenders he passed on the sideline.
The ball is removed before crossing the goal line. It’s a touchback!
INDvsLAR on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/DtuT1kDX9s
– NFL (@NFL) September 28, 2025
But he did all that work to drop the ball before he got to the goal line. Mitchell seemed to realize his mistake in real time, chasing the ball but unable to recover it before it bounced out of the back of the end zone.
This was not only a costly mistake, but also a frustrating one. Coach Shane Steichen had regularly implored his players to be aware of such mistakes since Colts running back Jonathan Taylor’s similar gaffe last season, but Mitchell must not have gotten the message.
It was for this reason that Steichen removed the error-prone young player from the starting lineup last Sunday.
“He must deserve it,” Steichen said.
Battle, a safety, was half a step away from the first touchdown of his career after recovering a Titans fumble and racing 61 yards to the end zone, but just before crossing the goal line, he inadvertently lost control of the ball.
“I knew it as soon as I did it,” Battle recalled Tuesday. “It slipped out of my hands. I knew exactly when it happened. That’s why I told (my teammates) not to celebrate when I scored.”
The play was ruled a touchback and Tennessee received the ball. And Battle still has never scored a touchdown.
Pain 😩
Battle fumbled the ball before crossing the goal line ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/oTQRybH6O4
– FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 15, 2024
“It’s a strange feeling,” Battle said.
Battle gave advice to other players who might find themselves in a similar situation.
“Just run into the end zone with the ball and then celebrate,” he said.
And if he ever finds himself in a similar situation, he said, “I might run to the locker room.”
Taylor, Colts, 2024
Taylor broke loose for what would have been a 41-yard touchdown in a crucial late-season game against the Broncos. The touchdown would have given the Colts a two-touchdown lead in a contest that had a significant impact on the AFC wild-card race.
Call canceled! This TD was ruled a touchback 😳 pic.twitter.com/jRlTeq9QQs
– NFL (@NFL) December 15, 2024
But the 2021 rushing champion had done the unthinkable, dropping the ball just before reaching the goal line and launching into a celebration. The Broncos gained possession after the replay, the Colts lost significant momentum and, ultimately, the game.
“That can’t happen, no matter the game, no matter the scenario,” Taylor said later.
What should have been the pinnacle of Corley’s football career became his most regrettable moment. In just his second touchdown of the season, the rookie wide receiver received the ball from end to end and found a clear path to the end zone along the sideline. But he dropped the ball just before crossing the goal line and his first-ever touchdown was nullified.
T.D. @CorleyMalachi!!#HOUvsNYJ on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/PSt7uVerRru
– New York Jets (@nyjets) November 1, 2024
The Houston Texans received the ball after the play resulted in a touchback, and Corley’s 18-yard run was the last time he saw the football that night.
Luckily for him, the Jets won 21-13, and a week after the game, he didn’t let the frustration of the game linger.
“You take things with a pinch of salt,” he said at the time. “You play this game for a long time and you see a lot more and a lot less embarrassing things happening on the field. For me, it was a great learning experience overall. I was always extremely excited to cross the goal line and be able to jet across the field and do all that kind of stuff. So it was fun overall.”
Corley, a third-round pick, was released after the season and now plays with the Cleveland Browns. He has yet to score a touchdown.
There may be nothing better for a defensive player than scoring a touchdown. Trevathan, a former Broncos linebacker, appeared to be headed for the first touchdown of his career when he picked off then-Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and raced toward the end zone.
But Trevathan dropped the ball before crossing the goal line and the ball bounced out of bounds in the end zone. Baltimore got the possession on the touchback and Trevathan would have to wait two more years before scoring the only touchdown of his career.
“It was a youthful mistake,” Trevathan, who was in his second season at the time, said after the Broncos’ blowout victory. “This won’t happen again.”
Jackson, Eagles, 2008
Jackson, in his prime, was among the most electric players in football, and this play was a perfect example. Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb dropped back and uncorked a deep ball down the seam to the rookie, who had positioned himself behind the Dallas defense. Jackson recovered the ball in stride and crossed the goal line untouched.
But in doing so, he forgot football. Jackson, perhaps in a hurry to celebrate the apparent 61-yard touchdown, threw the ball before crossing the plane and the Cowboys contested the play. The touchdown was called off and the ball was disallowed at the 1-yard line as the Cowboys did not recover immediately. The Eagles maintained possession at the 1-yard line and eventually scored, but the memory of the play remained.
“A lot of people made fun of me about it,” Jackson, now the head coach at Delaware State, said at the time. “But I’m just going to move on. I still have a lot of football to play.”
The Eagles went on to lose the game 41-37.
Turron Davenport, Josh Weinfuss and Ben Baby contributed to this report.
