Jalen Hurts scores TD vs. Cowboys after Eagles catch a break from refs on roughing the kicker call

It's hard to fault the refs for this one.

But they got a roughing the kicker call wrong in Sunday's game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. And it led to Jalen Hurts scoring a touchdown to give the Eagles a 14-0 lead.

The play in question took place with 4:45 remaining in the first quarter. The Cowboys stopped the Eagles on third down to force a punt on fourth-and-10. But Dallas' Ryan Flournoy fell into Eagles punter Braden Mann as he attempted to block the kick, drawing a 15-yard roughing the kicker penalty.

Instead of giving the ball back to the Cowboys, the Eagles retained possession with first-and-10 at their own 39-yard line. Ten plays later, Jalen Hurts gained 7 yards on a designed run into the end zone to extend the Philadelphia lead to 14-0.

But after slow-motion parsing, the Eagles should not have retained the ball, and Hurts should never have scored that touchdown.

Flournoy tipped the kick

It turns out that Flournoy touched the ball on his block attempt. Just barely.

Here's a look at the play from behind the line of scrimmage that shows Flournoy clearly falling into Mann's plant leg while his kicking leg was still extended.

It looked to the naked eye like a textbook roughing the kicker call.

But a second look from above revealed more. The angle below shows that Flournoy just barely tipped the ball. Even in slow motion, it's impossible to see if the trajectory of the ball actually changed.

But Flournoy's fingers clearly moved because of contact with the ball. And it's difficult to dispute that he got his hand on it.

Flournoy didn't block the kick by any practical definition. And he still barreled into Mann's plant leg. But by the letter of the proverbial law, roughing the kicker should have have been called. Had officials seen Flournoy touching the ball, they would have negated a roughing-the-kicker call. But they, understandably, did not.

Should replay assist have been used?

Flournoy in all likelihood was the only person in the building to recognize in real time that he tipped the ball. Officials theoritically could have used replay assist to review and overturn the call on the field. Roughing the kicker penalties are eligible this season for replay-assist review. And that's the biggest gripe that Cowboys fans can have with officials in this instance.

But even then, replay assist is initiated when "clear and obvious video evidence is quickly available to assist the on-field officials on objective rulings," per the NFL rulebook. Flournoy's protest of the call was the only thing in real time to indicate that he touched the ball.

Should that have been enough to trigger replay assist? Flournoy and the Cowboys certainly think so. But it wasn't until several plays later that the Fox broadcast surfaced the slow-motion replay of Flournoy's fingers moving.

In the end, it added up to a fortunate break for the Eagles that led to a touchdown. And sometimes, that's just how things go in sports.