Watch: Marquez Callaway robbed of a miracle TD by an early whistle

Wow. That’s all you can say after watching Marquez Callaway catch a twice-deflected pass off of Tre’Quan Smith’s hands, which also bounced off of a Los Angeles Chargers defender’s mitt before Callaway managed to snare it. And it should have resulted in a New Orleans Saints touchdown — but officials on the scene whistled the play dead prematurely, believing the ball hit the turf when Smith first tried to catch it.

But replay sparked by a Dennis Allen challenge showed Smith kept the ball from touching the ground with one of his hands, keeping the play alive the whole time. It’s a shame that Callaway’s would-be scoring play didn’t materialize. Instead, this goes down as a mundane 24-yard reception with the ball marked dead at the spot of Callaway’s catch.

With that said, it’s a rough look for Smith. He should have secured that catch to keep Callaway from ever factoring into the play. He’s really fortunate that a teammate caught the ball rather than a Chargers defensive back. It’s not the sort of moment he can risk putting on tape considering the moves the Saints have made to improve their receiving corps.

Story originally appeared on Saints Wire