Hurts’ pick-6 yesterday was the result of Goedert slipping. Had he not stumbled, it would not have been intercepted. Yet it will show up on stats and be discussed as “another turnover by Jalen Hurts,” even though he wasn’t to blame. I mean, it’s possible it could’ve still been intercepted if Goedert hadn’t slipped, but highly unlikely imo. Regardless, this isn’t about that one play in particular, but INTs in general.
It happens every week, almost every game. QB throws a fine pass, the receiver slips, runs the wrong route, or the ball deflects off the receiver’s hands into those of a defender, and it’s always recorded as an INT on the QB. Why?
I don’t understand why the NFL can’t judge and record INTs based on who is to blame. Running the wrong route would be difficult to determine, but If a perfectly thrown pass deflects off a WR’s hands for an INT, they fall down and it gets picked, etc, that should be on the WR/RB, not the QB. Call it an INT, turnover, or whatever, but it makes no sense to pin those on the QB.
In most cases, these instances are blatantly obvious, so there shouldn’t be any more “grey area” issues than fumbled handoff exchanges which are judged similarly.
BTW, I won despite Hurts’ pick-6, so this isn’t just a case of sour grapes. That said, had I lost because of it, this would bug me even more, of course. It just seems nonsensical to pin turnovers on QBs when the receiver is to blame. Why not pin it on the receiver?