Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Turnovers are exciting, even for the players watching from the sidelines.
Turnovers are an exciting play in football.
Especially when they come on the first play from scrimmage.
That was the case Sunday between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Seattle Seahawks. On the first play from scrimmage, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr dropped to throw, looking to connect with Davante Adams deep downfield. Seahawks cornerback Quandre Diggs stepped in front of the throw, creating the early turnover and sending Lumen Field into an absolute frenzy.
Among those caught in the moment? Seahawks linebacker Darrell Taylor, who was watching the play from the sideline.
After the game, eagle-eyed observers noted that Taylor raced on the field after the turnover, before the play was over, and started throwing blocks for Diggs:
Here are two more views of the play, using the All-22 angles:
Focusing in on the play, you can see Taylor standing with coaches on the sideline, before racing onto the field to throw some blocks as Diggs returned the interception into Raiders’ territory. You have a better view of Taylor coming onto the field on the sideline angle of the play, but you can also see him racing onto the field from the end zone view as well:
Taylor’s participation was not noticed by the officials, and the Seahawks took over on the Las Vegas 12-yard line. Seattle would score two plays later on a 12-yard touchdown run from rookie running back Kenneth Walker III.
Seeing this play might remind some readers of perhaps the most famous example of a player coming off the sidelines to make a play, from the 1954 Cotton Bowl. In that game, between Rice and Alabama, Rice running back Dicky Maegle (born “Moegle”) broke free along the right sideline, in front of the Alabama bench. Alabama running back Tommy Lewis, watching the play from the bench, came onto the field of play to chop Maegle down:
Officials awarded Maegle the 95-yard touchdown, prompting the Reading Eagle to report that the Cotton Bowl became the first football game “where a runner received credit for a touchdown while flat on his back 38 yards away from the goal line.”
Following the contest, Lewis apologized, telling reporters that Maegle “was coming toward our side of the field and just ran too close to me. I’m so full of Alabama.”
After seeing this play from Sunday, we can probably conclude that Taylor is so full of Seattle.
