Lol, it's funny how the little guy is always debating the semantics of missed calls. No wonder you all grew up with secret diaries about how life's .. not fair! We're in a game called life, these things happen. Stop vilifying the poor amateur refs and the league, look within yourselves and strive to be undebateable like the Ronald. When there is room for debate, you can get better. Green Bay has no one to blame but themselves for playing like ****.
It's not mutually exclusive. Green Bay played like **** and they got hosed. The officials made 2 really bad, inexcusable mistakes 1) the pass interference on Tate. clear as day its' very amateur to miss that the BIGGER issue 2) the white hat referee has to reconcile any differing opinions before they make a ruling on the field. one official called touchback other called touchdown. but without any conference they call it a TD?? that's just straight incompetence in doing your job. and the league office needs to take responsibility for that too because that is open and shut plain NOT giving the proper procedural training to its officials as for the call itself I actually have less of a problem with for the following reasons 3) you are taught to BAT the ball down, not go for a pick. a pick gives you nothing at that point in the game. Jennings was higher and got to the ball first. he bats that away and the game is over. no controversy nothing. that's an extremely poor decision that cost his team the game and the coaching staff needs to take responsibility for that breakdown. again poor coaching 4) real time on the field, you can miss that call. to me that call isn't as black and white as Dilfer and the other moaners on ESPN make it out to be. Jennings definitely had the ball first but before he pulled it in to his chest and got full possession, Tate had his hand on it. it's not a case where a receiver first has complete possession then the other player tries to take it away like the rule they were reading on ESPN. it ball was contested before he had full possession and I think a case (a bad case) can be made for simultaneous possession. the rule about the defender having possession then the offense taking it from him wasn't meant for a situation like that but a case where a player goes up gets possession and then in the scrum or coming down someone starts to take the ball from him. I mean it was a bad call but there's room for possible discussion and even a regular ref might have missed that. The other issues like not conferencing before making the call or not batting the ball are totally beyond any question.
no one remembers this? <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N93VaUytd4w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> or all the bad calls in the superbowl XL? or this one (that sent the steelers to the superbowl, and not the oilers): <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sqPbXWhZA_o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
As a Houston Oiler fan, I'd say the catch was worse, but only due to how much I cared when it happened.
These are complicated rules, but from what I'm understanding, Wilson would have to had stopped running and clearly establish a throwing posture. A running throw losses some protections, including the low hit protection. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UDObaQXqZhA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
While I would disagree with the call personally I can't see how anyone could possibly think it is the worst call ever. The people who are saying they are done with the NFL or this season needs an asterisk are just out of their minds.
This is exactly how I feel. The fact that there wasn't a very clear ruling on the field is the bigger problem than the call itself. It was almost like they just guessed without having a conference about it. I don't have a problem with the replay official not overturning it because there wasn't enough for an "indisputable evidence" to overturn the call.
If you see my edit of my original post on this topic, they got in wrong unless there is something in another part of the rulebook. Clearly he is out of the pocket, and did not re-establish himself in a stationary position. One of at least 4 blown 4th quarter calls in that game. 6 if you count the ones that got overturned on replay.
Given the crazy nature of the play, and the fact that everyone from announcers to fans weren't sure exactly what happened in real-time, I think this play would have been messed up even with real refs. The replacement refs screwed up lots of things, but this one was simply a bizarre play. No one expected two players to come down with the ball, so its doubtful any ref is really watching for who-got-possession-first-in-a-simultaneous-catch situation. So, without replays, all you can do is sort it out once everyone is on the ground, and if both players still have the ball, you probably have to give it to the offense. And then replay can't overturn it, so you're stuck with that all.
I'm still confused on all that - most people seem to be in agreement that the replay officials handled it properly because the evidence wasn't 100% conclusive either way. So I guess I should say it wouldn't have been overturned, rather than shouldn't have been. And since the replay guys are the regular refs, that's not a replacement ref issue.
I think the bigger issue with the replacement refs than this fluky thing is all the non-existent pass interference and illegal contact penalties. Those calls change drives completely and seem to be happening on a fairly regular basis.
To me the worst call was the Troy Polamalu interception of Peyton Manning, that he ended up fumbling and then recovering. The right call was made on the field, but Dungy challenged since that meant game over, and they reversed the call and said it was incomplete. Didn't effect the outcome of the game (which is why it isn't brought up more often), but it was down right embarrassing to reverse just an obviously correct call.
Monday was terrible because of the number of frequently bad calls. Defensive PI on Seattle, but only after Finley gestured to the official (Bad call that seemed influenced by player reaction). Twice getting the spot of the ball wrong and having to use replay to reverse it. The roughing the passer that shouldn't have been. The missed offensive PI, and then the decision to award Tate the catch. I'm not sure I've seen so many bad calls in such a short span (all 4th quarter).
I said this on a previous page. The refs are just completely lost on pass interference, illegal contact downfield and holding. They have no idea how to call those penalties. Pass interference called against defenders who don't even touch receivers. Part of the problem is also that the players, who hate these refs soooooooo much, are faking it now to get these calls. There was one this weekend where a receiver fell down in front of a defender and got up and started screaming at the ref and got a flag. It's ridiculous. Those are the calls that really change games.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8427652/locked-nfl-referees-return-early-week-sources Refs could be back soon.
