NFL players dropping the ball before crossing the goal line has become an epidemic

When will professional football players learn?

We’ve all seen it, we all yell at our TVs when it happens. But for whatever reason the simplest thing to do on the football field becomes one of the most difficult when players reach the one-yard line. That thing? Holding the football.

And once again, a player kept six points off the board for his team on Sunday. On a crazy sequence during the Cincinnati Bengals-Tennessee Titans game, Titans running back Tony Pollard fumbled the ball away and the Bengals’ Jordan Battle recovered with his sights set on the end zone.

Then, what has seemingly become commonplace happened again. Battle, who for whatever reason decided to switch hands with the ball right as he was crossing the goal line, dropped the ball.

Fox NFL play-by-play announcer Kevin Kugler spotted it pretty quickly.

“Now Battle did fumble it as he got right across the goal line and it went back through the back of the end zone,” Kugler said. “But did he break the plane with possession? It looks like he did. Or did he?” Kugler said as he heard the crowd reaction to the replay.

Battle did not, in fact, cross the goal line with possession of the ball, as multiple angles clearly showed on the Fox broadcast. The touchdown was quickly turned into a touchback after replay.

Just last month, New York Jets wide receiver Malachi Corley committed the same error, much to the chagrin of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit on Thursday Night Football.

It seems like it’s the simplest thing, but clearly it’s not.

Fortunately for the Bengals, they’d go on to win the game by multiple scores, keeping their slim playoff hopes alive. But in that moment, Bengals fans surely felt fumbling the ball through the end zone was pretty emblematic of their season.

Update: Mere minutes after this post went live, Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor ALSO dropped the ball right in front of the goal line. Watch below:

It’s unbelievable how commonplace this mistake has become in the NFL. When a defensive player does it, it’s one thing. When one of the top running backs in the NFL does it, it’s completely different. Once again, when will NFL players learn.

[NFL on Fox]