Bryce Young had the look he wanted. With 54 seconds to go, trailing by six and with no timeouts in his pocket against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Carolina Panthers quarterback saw the opposing secondary presenting a coverage that would allow Xavier Legette to sneak behind the defense on the post route head coach Dave Canales had dialed up.
Young took the second-and-4 snap and from the Philadelphia 32-yard line. As the pocket formed around him, he confidently stepped up into the middle as Legette made his break toward the end zone. Young fired in his direction, and everything about the play had the makings of a touchdown that would tie the game at 22 prior to an extra point. The Panthers were on the cusp of knocking off arguably the NFL’s hottest team in the Eagles, who entered with an eight-game winning streak.
But the officials never signaled touchdown. Replay made it clear what they saw on the field; Legette, the 32nd overall pick in the draft out of South Carolina, never secured the ball before the pigskin hit the turf, and the ground clearly caused the ball to move…