Questionable NFL officials?

[itjclarke]

Per the current rules, IMO the Bryant call was correct. As is, you need to maintain control through the act of the catch, which includes going to the ground if you've lost your balance while catching the ball. Bryant goes up, makes a great catch, but after the leap it was clear he was on his way down, three steps or not. Had he caught the ball, landed, been balanced and ran three steps, then it's a catch... and there'd have been no fumble since he'd have been ruled down by contact prior to the ball's coming loose.

This said, I don't like the current catch rules and I think they've made it too ambiguous.. see Calvin Johnson's potential game winner 2-3 years ago, wiped out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T19FUdG42EU.. that is maybe worst reversal ever.. or at least worst since the infamous Bert Emanuel reversal in the 1999 NFC Championship game.

IMO, NFL should simplify the rule to eliminate these debates. Possession and 2 feet down= catch, possession and an elbow, knee, butt down=catch

Adding-- the PI thing against Detroit was nuts. I didn't think it was necessarily blatant, "have to throw a flag" PI. It did look really bad on TV because the LB didn't look back, but face guarding is not PI, and both players had hands on each other. It's also not all that surprising to see a flag picked up, but what was shocking to me was they ANNOUNCED IT... then picked up the flag and reversed the call without explanation. I've never ever ever seen refs actually announce a call then change their minds... and not explaining it made it look far worse.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Per the current rules, IMO the Bryant call was correct. As is, you need to maintain control through the act of the catch, which includes going to the ground if you've lost your balance while catching the ball. Bryant goes up, makes a great catch, but after the leap it was clear he was on his way down, three steps or not. Had he caught the ball, landed, been balanced and ran three steps, then it's a catch... and there'd have been no fumble since he'd have been ruled down by contact prior to the ball's coming loose.

IMO, if Bryant has the ball in has left hand, and he's obviously stretching out his arm for the goal line, he has control. It's kind of hard to stretch out your arm for the goal line if you don't have control.

[Runscott]

I'm curious if anyone has an opinion on the first call I described (Packer catch that was upheld). If it hadn't been for that one, I would be less inclined to think the replay official is in someone's pocket.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by Runscott

I'm curious if anyone has an opinion on the first call I described (Packer catch that was upheld). If it hadn't been for that one, I would be less inclined to think the replay official is in someone's pocket.

IMO, that should have been overturned Scott, no question.

[familytoad]

I think that both calls were wrong and I always root against Dallas (unless they are playing Denver or SF, that's when I hope they both lose!)

The call with Cobb from GB was really quite obvious from the back view, but not easy to tell from the front. Replay officials shouldn't have got that call wrong, although I only suspect conspiracy when Peyton Manning is playing.

The call with Dez Bryant is probably correct within the 2014 set of rules, but if so, I have to say then that it's a TERRIBLE rule!

I also strongly disagree with defensive holding when a defender grabs a jersey for a nanosecond on a play a dozen yards from the real play. This is absurd.
There must be a better way to determine whether a defending player interferes or truly impedes an actual offensive play from completing.

The plays are all subjective anyway, so just allow the athletes to compete!

True interference should be called. Not the crap I see get called on every Manning incompletion. The new rules have to go. If "sissifying" is a word, that's what they are doing

They apparently are trying to make it safer for the players. I see no evidence that injuries are less with the new rules, but I do know that the games are seemingly *all* being strongly influenced by questionable calls. Calls that would not have been considered years ago!

It's really not that hard to tell when a guy catches a ball (Bryant did) or when someone interferes on a pass play (see the "picked up flag") they have been doing it since the implementation of the forward pass. This is the worst interpretation they have ever used.

[clydepepper]

There was one angle that did show the ball slip from his grasp...however, I always thought that the ground could not cause a fumble...so I would side with, as much as it bothers me to say so, Dallas on this one.

Last week's call was definitely worse, but this one directly effected the outcome of the game.

All that being said....GO PACK!!

[itjclarke]

The ground can indeed cause a fumble- ex: if a player is running in the open fields and trips (without being touched) and loses the ball after it hits the ground, it is a fumble. That said, this is totally different than Bryant call, and per current rules the ground can absolutely, 100% be cause for an incompletion call.

I'll say again though, I personally don't like the way they interpret these rules. I agree with most/all of what Brian says about rule changes. I don't however blame the refs as much as I blame the hyper reactive league rules committee and the commish. They've tried to make far too many drastic (and unrealistic) changes in too short a period, and the refs are being put in an increasingly difficult situation... especially with non reviewable calls like "hit on defenseless receiver", "leading with the crown", etc. So many of these calls completely change games- Niners lost to the Saints on a PF call last year, and in doing so lost home field throughout the playoffs due to the fact Ahmad Brooks' sack/fumble/recovery was reversed because Brees' head bucked back on the hit. No helmet to helmet, and prob 95% of Brooks' impact is on Brees chest (the only remaining target area on a QB) with the other 5% being about neck high (Brooks is probably 4-6 inches taller), but Brees head whipped back and made it look like he'd been smacked up high. All of this occurs in about 0.1 sec, and an official watching several things at once must make this determination immediately.

On that topic of shrinking target area on QB, one of my favorite ref highlights this season was Ed Hochuli (the totally ripped ref) called an "illegal hit to the chest" on a 3rd down hit of Russell Wilson. The hit was legal and was delivered to the ONLY legal area left, yet what would have been 4th down and an ensuing FG attempt turned into 1st down, followed by a game sealing TD. This year also saw league (commish) imposed points of emphasis on calling defensive holding (mostly cuz Seahawks were holding so much), illegal hands to face, etc. With this, the officials feel more and more pressure to NOT miss these calls, so in turn make far more of them. It's becoming harder and harder to watch... and if the league continues to insist on enforcing these, they need to allow a booth official to review the hit (sort of like college), and do in real time, independent of challenge.

This stuff is supposed to be for safety, but it is a joke because there's a clear pecking order on who's safety matters. Based on rules, QB is 1, WR is 2... then maybe O and D linemen. However, rules to protect one offensive player can make the game more dangerous for the other defensive player. I do not envy the predicament of a modern day DB. They've all played and been coached a certain way their whole lives (15-20 years), and have had to drastically change over the past 2-3... and frankly a lot of these changes are nearly impossible to execute. So many of these collisions happens in a split second and I've seen several of the following--- DB lowers target area but WR immediately lowers head too, thus DB's head hits WR's head--- 15 yards against DB for head to head... or worse, DB pulls up a little bit on what would have been a big hit, and gets laid out by a WR, TE, RB who's still allowed to lower his head (see Adrian Peterson)... or even worse, he try to pull up in an awkward way and blows out his knee. Over the next few years, maybe these rules will work and the rate of concussions will go down.. but I think in trade, the rate of severe leg injuries will go up because a safety knows he won't get flagged and can still make the tackle if he goes low (see TJ Ward).

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

IMO, if Bryant has the ball in has left hand, and he's obviously stretching out his arm for the goal line, he has control. It's kind of hard to stretch out your arm for the goal line if you don't have control.

Watch the video I posted.. Calvin Johnson ruling is worse.

Like I said, I don't agree with the rule, but it was called today as it's been called the past few years. I watched from a bar, no audio and thought they'd overturn it based on any number of other similar examples I've seen. It doesn't matter to them that he has control from the high point, to the point he stretches. Anything/everything through his falling, rolling, whatever, is considered part of the act of making the catch. The balls must be controlled through the finish of that act.. In this case the ball moves when it's touching the ground.