Skip to main content
Join Now

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman disagree with ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk over intentional grounding

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax11/25/25BarkleyTruax

Bryce Young was flagged for intentional grounding during the final minute of the first half against the San Francisco 49ers. The play stirred up some back-and-forth between Monday Night Football broadcasters Troy Aikman and Joe Buck, and ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk.

On third down, Young threw to rookie WR Tetairoa McMillan outside of the numbers, but McMillan cut inside instead. Young appeared to be in his throwing motion with the ball before McMillan made his cut, but the officials called intentional grounding on the play instead, costing the Panthers the down and several yards to boot.

“I mean they call intentional grounding here. But from where, I’m standing he and the receiver were just not on the same page,” Joe Buck said.

Troy Aikman gave another perspective, but agreed with his colleague. “But there is the element of whether he was trying to avoid the sack; which I agree with you Joe, it was pretty … obvious it was just them not being on the same page.”

A replay was shown after the fact, showing that the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage. The duo also brought in replay analyst Russell Yurk to explain his perspective on the controversial call.

“Once again like we heard a couple weeks ago, tipping doesn’t automatically take off intentional grounding. It can be taken into consideration. I don’t think that affected it enough. I still like the call.”

Yurk is referring to when officials penalized Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for intentional grounding earlier this month vs. the Buffalo Bills. Mahomes’ ball was tipped and fell well short of his target. Buck said that they’ll have to agree to disagree, ruling in his and Aikman’s viewpoints as majority rule over Yurk.

The call was ultimately inconsequential, as the Panthers would have had to punt the ball away anyway. It was fourth down regardless of the call and with less than 30 seconds left in the half, the 49ers weren’t able to do anything with the ball before halftime.

That concluded a first half that saw four combined interceptions — three from San Francisco’s Brock Purdy and one from Young. Despite the interception total, the 49ers finished the first half with a 10-3 lead. Fans can watch the second half of the Week 12 matchup live on ESPN.