Malachi Corley’s first NFL touchdown made a lot of noise across the country, with highlight reels showing his 19-yard run and social media buzzing. But the touchdown didn’t count.
The rookie wide receiver for the New York Jets celebrated too soon and dropped the ball just before crossing the goal line during a 21-13 win over Houston last Thursday.
At first, it seemed like he had scored, but a replay review overturned the play. The ruling was that Corley had fumbled the ball after an 18-yard run, and since it rolled out of the end zone, it was called a turnover and touchback.
“I was relishing the moment just as much as the entire MetLife (Stadium) was,” Corley said Wednesday while speaking to reporters for the first time since the game. “And when I seen it on the playback screen, that’s the first time I saw it.”
He was shocked. So were the fans and his teammates. His touchdown mistake was quickly becoming a big talking point. Corley said he had scored “200-plus touchdowns in my life,” but this was the first time something like this had ever happened to him.
“My emotions were still extremely elevated, just from the fact that for me, I just scored my first NFL touchdown,” he said. “You know, that moment got pulled back from me.
But obviously, you know, my teammates really rallied around me, told me that they’d get the ball back for us. I felt really good after that.”
For many casual NFL fans, Corley’s mistake — especially with it happening on national TV during prime time — was the first time they saw him play. And it might be what some people remember about him for a while, but Corley says it won’t define him as a player.
“It’s not a defining moment for me because imagine if I broke three tackles, you know, juked the guy and then I dropped the ball 1 yard in front of the end zone,” he said. “You still did that same play, you know what I mean? But holding the ball 1 more yard is not a coaching point for anything.”
After the game, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich told Corley, a third-round pick from Western Kentucky, that he needed to hold onto the ball and said, “you owe us one.”
Luckily for Corley, the Jets were still able to win the game, even without his second-quarter touchdown that would have given New York a 7-0 lead.
“Yeah, I was really grateful that we won the game because it could’ve gotten really bad for me if we had lost or something like that,” he said. “Just for the way that our guys rallied after that happened, for us to put as many points on the board as we did without that touchdown, you know, it was great for us.”
Corley, who has one 4-yard catch in five games this season, might get more playing time now that Mike Williams was traded to Pittsburgh before the NFL’s trade deadline on Tuesday. And if Corley scores again, he already knows what he’ll do.
“I’d probably hold onto the ball all the way to the sideline and give it to Coach Brick,” he said with a smile. “Let him know that I owed him that one.”
Even though he made the mistake, Corley said he wasn’t embarrassed.
“No, not at all,” he said. “You know, you just take things with a grain of salt. You play the game for a long time, you’ve seen a lot more or less embarrassing things happen on the field. So for me, it was just a learning experience. Still extremely excited to run across the end zone line and be able to jet around the field and do all that type of stuff.
“So it was fun.”
