Marlon Humphrey discusses one of the most bizarre plays of Week 1

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey has been one of the best cornerbacks in the National Football League since he turned pro in 2017. So it was definitely strange and a bit bizarre to see the play that he was involved in against the Raiders on Monday Night Football.

Humphrey was defending Raiders‘ tight end Darren Waller, when the football richocheted off Waller and into Humphrey’s hands without him knowing it. He didn’t realize he had an easy interception.

Here are two slow motion looks at the play from Rene Bugner.

Marlon Humphrey made the PBU vs Darren Waller and had the the interception in his hand but somehow didn´t realize it.

The ESPN broadcast didn´t talk about this at all.

I slowed down the two replay angles for you guys to see that the ball never hit the ground. #BALvsLV #ENDZN pic.twitter.com/vba7sD8rwY

— René Bugner (@RNBWCV) September 14, 2021

The former Alabama corner acknowledged he thought the ball had hit the ground before he caught it.

“I definitely did not know I had the football,” Humphrey said. “That’d have been nice, to have an interception, probably the easiest interception ever. So I guess celebrate a little slower, I guess, would be the thing for that.”

It was definitely one of the most bizarre plays of Week One in the NFL and what was even stranger was how few people recognized it occurred. The ball lands on Waller’s back leg, then Humphrey gets up with the ball in his lap, then it hits the ground after he didn’t realize he caught it.

It wasn’t the best night for Humphrey, as he got roasted by Zay Jones on this deep pass from Derek Carr. He surprised the entire Ravens secondary by dropping back and throwing a fade-away bomb with some air under it to Jones. Carr’s toss traveled from around the 43-yard line to the four-yard line, where Jones caught it and walked it in for the walk-off touchdown in overtime.

Check out the play below.

Probably wouldn’t have gotten there anyway but why did Marlon Humphrey just give up? pic.twitter.com/TqBzCqebZ4

— Football Analysis (@FBallAnalysisBU) September 14, 2021

Then there was this play for Humphrey, where he absolutely leveled Raiders’ receiver Hunter Renfrow at the end of the play. Check out the video below, courtesy of Austin Gayle of PFF.

oh my god, marlon humphrey also destroys hunter Renfrow for fun at the end of the play haha https://t.co/Kyj4ozkZIs

— Austin Gayle (@PFF_AustinGayle) September 14, 2021

Humphrey later apologized for the hit. The apology comes after the Raiders filed complaints to the NFL for the hits on Renfrow, according to The Athletic.

Marlon Humphrey NFL grade

PFF ranked Marlon Humphrey as the 29th best player in the NFL, and its third best graded cover corner coming into the 2021 season. They only graded him lower than Jaire Alexander and Jalen Ramsey.

Sam Monson of PFF had this to say about the talented corner, “Humphrey doesn’t get the recognition he deserves because of his role within the Baltimore defense and the things they ask him to do precisely because he is their best coverage player. Over the past two seasons, only Xavien Howard has a higher PFF coverage grade when in single coverage. Humphrey has achieved that despite lining up in the slot on 58.8% of his snaps in that time, a position that often leads to far more coverage losses.”

The Baltimore Ravens will look to rebound from their 33-27 overtime loss against the Raiders on Sunday night, as they face the Kansas City Chiefs. Kickoff for the Ravens-Chiefs will be on Sept. 19. The game will be televised nationally on NBC. Kickoff is slated for 8:20 PM EST.