INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts quarterback Philip Rivers didn't hold back in voicing his displeasure over the NFL's murky rule of what is and isn't a catch after a play was changed from an incomplete pass to an interception in their loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Rivers attempted a pass to receiver Marcus Johnson down the sideline in front of the Colts' bench with 11 minutes left in the third quarter. The ball was underthrown, which allowed Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters to turn around and become the primary target. Peters had the ball in his hands when Johnson became the defender and tried to knock it out. Johnson appeared to knock the ball out of Peters' hands as he was going to the ground.
The play initially was called an incompletion, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh threw his challenge flag. The officials changed the call and said that Peters had control before fumbling. That explanation didn't sit well with Rivers.
"It's gotten so jacked up how the catch rule is," the quarterback said. "No one who has been around football or watched thought that was a catch, including the guy [Peters] who dropped it. But some guy who has probably never thrown a football in his life gets to decide."
Peters said he thinks the officials ultimately made the right call.
"I think I made a play with the ball. I was going backwards for multiple steps, [and] I had control over it," Peters explained. "So, I think it was an interception. I kind of went over and asked Philip Rivers if he thought it was a pick. He didn't think so, but that was a [heck] of a job by Coach [John] Harbaugh. [The coaches] upstairs, they got that called down, and they went with it. So, I appreciate it, and the team does, too."
Al Riveron, the NFL's senior vice president of officiating, said there was "clear and obvious visual evidence" that Peters controlled the ball and took three steps to establish possession before fumbling.
The Ravens took advantage of the changed call to score what turned out to be the winning touchdown in their 24-10 victory over the Colts.
Rivers tried to soften his stance on the changed call at the end of his Zoom session with the media.
"I'll probably get in trouble for saying the guy has probably never thrown a football, but they called it an interception, so it's an interception," he said. "Bottom line is I probably shouldn't have thrown the ball. Shouldn't have thrown it short. You throw it short, you leave it in other people's hands."
Information from ESPN's Jamison Hensley was used in this report.