The Lateral -- Photos in Review

I'm not one to carp about spilt milk.  However, with some major media articles concerning Troy Brown's lateral after the disastrous blocked FG, I figured that I might as well, as we always strive to do here at Stillers.com, give the fans the real deal on what occurred, rather than blind, glib speculation. 

From the side-view of this play, we see the following:

In the 4th photo (below), Troy Brown has probably released the ball, although we cannot tell for sure.

In Photo 5, below, you can see the ball just to the left of Troy's helmet.  

By photo 9, you can see the ball in full view as it starts to hit Harris in the hands.  

It does appear that the ball went ever-so-slightly forward.  

Backview photos of this play:

In photo 3, the ball can be seen just above Bailey's right shoulder.   It disappears 'behind' Bailey in photo 4�.

�. as well as #5, but it re-appears in photo 6.

In photo 7, Harris' hands have touched the ball, and he is preparing to bring it in to his rib cage.  This is the KEY photo, because at this moment in time is when Harris establishes "possession" of the ball.  The latter pics are all therefore superfluous.  

In photos 9 and 10, Harris pulls the ball into his side, and in the final photo, Harris takes off for the EZ. 

To reiterate, I hate to have this explode into a sea of controversy, and I hate for this lateral -- which went 'forward' on an angle of about .08 degrees -- to be blamed for this shameful, despicable loss.   The Stillers lost, fair and square, and no amount of caterwauling is going to change that fact.   Let's give credit to Troy Brown, who had the presence of mind to attempt a totally risk-free lateral.   Even if Harris had muffed the lateral and the Stillers recovered the loose ball, the Pats still retain possession because it was a 4th down FG attempt.   And that kick block?  As we found out, every Thursday of every week, New England practices blocking kicks and then running with the ball.  The Stillers?  They probably haven't blocked a kick -- other than a half-hazard paw stuck in the air that happened to hit a low kick -- since Bush the elder was running this country.