WATCH: Texans rookie Jalen Pitre cannot remove glove from football after interception
Texans rookie Jalen Pitre grabbed his fifth interception of the season, and drew controversy quickly as his glove appeared stuck to the ball. As Pitre ran towards the end zone to throw his interception ball into the stands, the ball didn’t come out on his throw — leading to an awkward moment as Pitre had to remove his glove in order to drop the ball.
Afterwards, cameras caught a moment on the sideline where a teammate gave him back the ball with the glove still stuck to it. The pair appeared to be confused how the glove was still stuck to the ball as Pitre took the ball to try and free his glove.
Jalen Pitre’s incredibly sticky glove
The clip quickly drew controversy from fans around the league as it appeared to show Pitre with a substance on his glove that was so sticky he couldn’t remove it from the ball — a huge advantage for anyone attempting to catch passes on offense or defense.
As sports technology improves over time, player gloves continue to be one of the most scrutinized pieces of gear as they often are referred to as “self-catching” when compared to what receivers worked with before.
The play will likely be used as an investigation starter for the NFL into the gloves that players are wearing on game days, as the rules allow for gloves to have a “sticky” texture but are not allowed to have foreign substances on them. Pitre’s gloves appeared to have the latter after his interception, which will make for an interesting wait to see if the NFL passes any new judgement.