Initial touching the ball is of no consequence. The play is alive until the player with ball possession hits the ground with his knees. The GB player was still upright when Tate grabbed the ball. When both players hit the ground, both payers still had their hands on the ball. The offense wins the possession.
There is no possession until there’s possession. The defender had two hands on the ball but was in the air. By the two two feed came down the receiver had at least one hand on the ball and from what I’ve seen had two hands on the ball. I personally could live with the call going either way! What the refs completely blew were the two instances of blatant pass interference by the offense during that play!!
“The GB player was still upright when Tate grabbed the ball.”
It seemed to me (haven’t looked at it again) that Tate had both hands on the ball (along with the GB player) before the GB player touched his feet to the ground.
That is obviously not true - Let’s say a defender catches the ball all alone, then as he is being tackled 5 yards down the field, the receiver rushes in and puts his hands on the ball - it is definitely NOT ruled a completion.
Possession in this case is the same as other cases. Once possessed, it must clearly change possession - the defender clearly caught the ball initially, and thus possessed it. At that point, Tate had to clearly change the possession to himself before the defender hit the ground, not merely put his hands on the ball. A little bit of careful thought will answer the question - otherwise, all a defender must do if a pass is intercepted is get his hands on the ball to establish joint possession.
Initial touching of the ball is of no consequence, true - but initial CATCHING or possessing of the ball is everything. “The GB player was still upright when Tate grabbed the ball” EXACTLY - therefore, the possession was NOT simultanious, as the defender possessed the ball BEFORE Tate grabbed it.