per the instant replay rules, a booth review was called. the play was reviewed by referee phil luckett to determine whether the line judge's ruling that the throw had not been a forward pass was correct. luckett was already a controversial figure before the game due to two highly disputed calls in the 1998 nfl season. during a thanksgiving game between the pittsburgh steelers and the detroit lions, luckett decided a coin toss when the game went into overtime. steelers running back jerome bettis appeared to call tails, but upon making a "he-" sound before saying tails, luckett ruled that bettis had called heads instead and awarded the lions the ball with the coin coming up tails. the lions scored on overtime's opening possession to win the game 19–16. just a few weeks later, luckett was thrown into controversy again with another controversial call in a game between the seattle seahawks and new york jets. with less than a minute remaining in the game, jets quarterback vinny testaverde ran a quarterback sneak on a fourth and goal and was tackled down about a foot short of the goal line, but the play was ruled a touchdown and the jets won the game as a result. while this play was not luckett's fault as he did not make the call of touchdown, the play was non-reviewable and he was forced to take the blame as the head official. this play, along with jerry rice's non-fumble in a wild card game between the san francisco 49ers and green bay packers was ultimately considered the last straw in convincing nfl teams to vote overwhelmingly for instant replay's return for the 1999 nfl season. as a result, the music city miracle was among the first controversial plays where the current instant replay system played a key role.