Skip to content
Eagles
Link copied to clipboard

Patriots player Marquis Flowers still upset Corey Clement's Super Bowl catch was upheld

It's been nearly a month since the Eagles defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl LII, and linebacker Marquis Flowers still can't concede that an Eagles touchdown was legitimate.

Eagles running back Cory Clement catches a touchdown pass in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, while avoiding Patriots defender Marquis Flowers.
Eagles running back Cory Clement catches a touchdown pass in the third quarter of the Super Bowl, while avoiding Patriots defender Marquis Flowers.Read moreMICHAEL BRYANT / Staff Photographer

It's been nearly a month since the Eagles defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl LII, but at least one New England player still refuses to acknowledge that an Eagles touchdown was legitimate.

One day after the NFL competition committee reached a "unanimous" agreement that some controversial catches that were overturned after having been reviewed by officials in New York should be ruled complete in the future, Patriots linebacker Marquis Flowers took to Twitter to agree with the league's decision.

"Yes he did," Flowers wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night, agreeing that Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant's controversial catch against the Packers during the 2014 playoffs should have been upheld.

However, he doesn't agree with the officials' decision to uphold Eagles running back Corey Clement's touchdown catch during the third quarter of the Super Bowl.

Flowers has a history of complaining about the Patriots' Super Bowl loss, and his anger is understandable, considering he was part of a Patriots defense that gave up 538 yards against an Eagles squad led by Nick Foles.

Earlier this month, Flowers went on a tweetstorm in which he called out everyone from Eagles defensive lineman Chris Long to Greg Bedard's Boston Sports Journal, which highlighted Flowers' role on third down as one of the Patriots' major failures on defense.

Flowers isn't alone in thinking Clement's catch should have been overturned. NBC Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth has stood by his comments during the Super Bowl broadcast that Clement's catch should not have counted.

"I would have called that incomplete," Collinsworth said during the broadcast. "If that ball's not loose in his arms when that last foot came down, I give up."

But Gene Steratore, the head of the officiating crew that called the Super Bowl, explained why Clement's catch was good after watching the replay.

"It never loses control," Steratore told line judge Byron Boston in comments captured by NFL Films. "Is there a little ball movement? Yes. But that does not deem loss of control."

Steratore added: "It goes from here [indicating the wrist], sticks on the forearm, right back to the hand — touchdown."

Dean Blandino, Fox's rules analyst for NFL games and a former vice president of officiating for the NFL, agreed that the call to let Clement's touchdown catch stand was correct.

"Issue is control. Looks like he has it initially and gets both feet down in bounds," Blandino wrote on Twitter during the game. "There is some movement of the ball, but don't think enough to say loss of control. Call should stand."