Questionable NFL officials?

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by Runscott

I just googled 'Dez Bryant three steps' to see if anyone else was thinking the way I was. Here's what I found at deadspin:

Officials reversed the call because they determined Bryant was still in the process of making the catch when the ball was jarred loose by the ground. (Read that sentence again; football officiating as a demonstration in real-time casuistry is the sort of thing that could make even gamblers swear off the sport eventually.) The Cowboys lost their goal-line situation, possession, and, eventually, the game.

Watching a replay from the sideline, it's unclear when the process ends. Bryant takes three steps; Bryant has possession of the ball; Bryant stretches out for the end zone. When Bryant chooses to reach for the end zone, doesn't that complete the process? Do any of us know anymore? Is football now necessarily an exercise in epistemology?

Bryant takes two steps. He goes up, his right foot comes down slightly behind the five. He takes one step with the left, another with the right while he's lunging forward. He keeps possession clearly on the way down. If he doesn't reach out to try and score, there's no question in my mind it's a catch. But when he tried to do that, the tip of the ball hit the ground, it popped up in the air, and whatever he did from that point on didn't matter. He didn't complete the motion of the catch.

Remember, he has to establish possession before he can make a football move. Possession on a ball in the air entails establishing both feet in bounds in the NFL, not just one like in college football. So, while he made two "steps", I'm wondering if they didn't consider the first as establishing possession, and he has to make a football move after that. Who knows what the hell is going on in their minds. Welcome to the NFL in the Roger Goodell era. I sometimes think the guys in New York are throwing dice to determine the outcome of a challenge, or review.

It's a completely messed up rule. It's a rule that has completely burned Green Bay on at least three different occasions that I can think of in the last two years. And as soon as I say what happened, I posted on my Facebook that I was 100% sure that it would be overturned. There was not a doubt in my mind because I've seen it too many times before.

Cowboy fans said "the ref gave Green Bay the game" over and over.

Um, no, they didn't. The refs didn't give Green Bay an 80 and a 90 yard TD Drive, or surrender 430 yards of offense. The Cowboys had the absolute best situation they could have ever hoped for. They got the very best quarterback in the game, who relies heavily on creating outside of the pocket when the play breaks down, immobile. Rodgers only slipped out of the pocket twice all day, the second time was the game winning pass to Richard Rodgers that threaded the needle between two closing Cowboy defenders. And with Rodgers unable to run, and his best receiver double covered all day, they still couldn't stop him. The Cowboys were so worried about Jordy Nelson that Cobb and Davante Adams both went off for over 100. Eddie Lacy, too.

The Cowboys were also gifted their first touchdown. On second and eight, they got Tramon Williams for a ticky tack pass interference call when his feet tangled up with Terrance Williams. He put his right hand out, but didn't in any way impede, or grab Williams, but the line judge called him anyway. His feet got tangled up, and Williams fell down. The funny thing is that the exact same play happened in the Colts-Broncos game in the third quarter, and no penalty was called. Even Mike Pereira, the ex-head of NFL officials, said it was a ticky tack call. That gave Dallas, with the best O line and running back in the NFL, a first and goal at the 1.

Green Bay repeatedly shot themselves in the foot. On that touchdown drive I just referenced, our idiot middle linebacker Brad Jones basically mugged Demarco Murray though he completely didn't have to. There were two Packers waiting to stop the screen on third down. The Cowboys would have punted deep in their own territory. Then there was the ridiculous personal foul on T.J. Lang that gave the Boys another first down. And the one I went nuts over, when the Packers were trying to run out the clock, Andrew Quarless gets a false start on first and ten. Why the hell the tight end is getting a false start on a play that everybody in Green Bay knows is a run...is beyond me.

The Cowboy fans have nothing to hang their heads about, at least the real fans, not the bandwagon fans that jump back on the Cowboy train whenever they start doing better. They have a really good young team, and a Head Coach I really respect. Jason Garrett is a class act.

As for Tony Romo, I hope this puts an end to the ceaseless criticism of him. He played a great game. It's amazing how after nine years in the league, he finally figured it out!

Actually, he finally got some help. He got a real offensive line, and a running back that could take over the game. And, Dallas ran 15% more than they did last year. That kind of patience should pay dividends next year.

Good luck to the Cowboy fans. Great season, and I fully expect to meet you in the playoffs again next year. I must admit, though, that this win helped to soften the disappointment of all those losses at Dallas in the mid 90s. Rodgers is the man!