Getting "Hochulied" - time for the NFL to have a chat with its refs

[Ed Burmila]

The reason the NFL went back to replay is because their biggest nightmare is to have a colossal officiating mistake in a highly visible game, and we had one yesterday on that kickoff. After the Ed Hochuli/Jay Cutler fiasco earlier this year which was also widely publicized, I think it's time for the Competition Committee to have another look at replay and these inadvertent or "accidental" whistles.

The side judge who blew the whistle on that kickoff was at the 10. The ball came down around the 30/35. How in the hell could he be certain enough to blow that whistle from 20 yards away, especially since the replay shows that it wasn't even close to touching the line?

The refs need to have it emphasized to them that they should not blow the whistle until they're 100%, no-questions-asked certain that the play is dead. If you think there's even a 1% chance that the kickoff didn't hit the white line, keep the damn whistle in your pocket and let Replay sort it out.

 

[Mulli]

Yup. And why wouldn't the replay rules allow a challenge there? To keep from having to look at where punts go out of bounds?

 

[Reddog]

Yup. And why wouldn't the replay rules allow a challenge there? To keep from having to look at where punts go out of bounds?

That call sucked but the argument would be once the whistle blew a player might stop so he would be at an unfair disadvantage recovering the ball.

 

[Ryanwb]

I don't ever think you are going to have a perfect system. There are some places for improvement but overall I think the NFL has the best officiating system from top to bottom in pro sports. I like how they grade and reward the best crews and revisit rules in the off season.

The NBA is by far the worst

 

[Mulli]

That call sucked but the argument would be once the whistle blew a player might stop so he would be at an unfair disadvantage recovering the ball.

prolly right.

 

[arthurracoon]

I don't ever think you are going to have a perfect system. There are some places for improvement but overall I think the NFL has the best officiating system from top to bottom in pro sports. I like how they grade and reward the best crews and revisit rules in the off season.

The NBA is by far the worst

yup

 

[arwillan]

Had the cards lost the game, i bet a bigger deal would've been made out of it.

 

[anks106]

I was quite drunk, but I thought the Eagle was out of bounds and it touched his arm.. was I wrong? I thought we got a break there, what actually happened?

 

[green machine]

If I recall correctly, the whistle never blew. I really don't think it did. Maybe I'm wrong, at the game it's hard to hear (a wonderful thing, by the way), but I think they let play go, then decided that they called it dead upon the flag being thrown.

 

[Ryanwb]

Had the cards lost the game, i bet a bigger deal would've been made out of it.

I don't think so and let me tell you why. The Eagles didn't march down and score on that drive and the Cardinals had no guarantee that they would have scored. Therefore there was no direct impact to the score.

If the Cards had scored it would have likely put the game out of reach very early. I would not have looked back to this play as a game losing turn of events, I would have looked at why the defense let the 18 point lead go down the toilet

 

[green machine]

I don't think so and let me tell you why. The Eagles didn't march down and score on that drive and the Cardinals had no guarantee that they would have scored. Therefore there was no direct impact to the score.

If the Cards had scored it would have likely put the game out of reach very early. I would not have looked back to this play as a game losing turn of events, I would have looked at why the defense let the 18 point lead go down the toilet

Because the offense went in the tank first.

You're right though, the play could have put the game away, but it wouldn't have been why the Cards lost.

The team showed a resiliency not seen, well, ever, and bounced back well from bad officiating.

 

[anks106]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/112598-eagles-cardinals-officials-rearing-heads <--seems to think that they got the raw end of the deal.

 

[RandomGuy]

I was quite drunk, but I thought the Eagle was out of bounds and it touched his arm.. was I wrong? I thought we got a break there, what actually happened?

You are right.

 

[green machine]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/112598-eagles-cardinals-officials-rearing-heads <--seems to think that they got the raw end of the deal.

Yeah, umm, given how the ball never went out of bounds or was touched by a player who was out of bounds, this guy is a fool.

 

[Spielman]

That call sucked but the argument would be once the whistle blew a player might stop so he would be at an unfair disadvantage recovering the ball.

That was the argument for not being able to challenge and say there was a fumble when the player was ruled down. They changed that. Hopefully they change this to match.

 

[anks106]

Yeah, umm, given how the ball never went out of bounds or was touched by a player who was out of bounds, this guy is a fool.

Ball hit off one of the Eagles elbow's, not sure if he was OOB or not.. anyone have a link to the play or highlights with it?

 

[RugbyMuffin]

The same guy that blew that kickoff call was the same guy that kept the flag in his pocket on the "no call" on Hood.

I think that his involvement on the first blown call had something to do with him keeping the flag in his pockett.

Finally, I don't think that ball hit the Eagles player.

 

[RandomGuy]

Ball hit off one of the Eagles elbow's, not sure if he was OOB or not.. anyone have a link to the play or highlights with it?

NFL.com game highlights if anyone wants to see it.

 

[anks106]

NFL.com game highlights if anyone wants to see it.

Got a link to the highlights that have the play? I was watching them for about an hour and don't remember that play being included

 

[Spielman]

Got a link to the highlights that have the play? I was watching them for about an hour and don't remember that play being included

I just watched their 9+ minute highlights and it wasn't included.

 

[RandomGuy]

Got a link to the highlights that have the play? I was watching them for about an hour and don't remember that play being included

Do a search on my posts from last night. I linked to it a few times for the Curtis/Hood 4th down play.

 

[BillsCarnage]

Ball hit off one of the Eagles elbow's, not sure if he was OOB or not.. anyone have a link to the play or highlights with it?

The refs clearly blew that call, but here's how I think they saw it and it unfolded, and why it was a blown call..

The ball bounced off of the Philly players' hands/arm which the ref interpreted as out of bounds. This is a judgment call and cannot be reviewed.

Now the flaws w/ this call.
If the player was deemed out of bounds than the ball should have been placed at the 40. It was initially and then moved back to the spot.

The players feet were in bounds and the ball bounced back into the field of play making it a live ball. For example, if a receiver were to catch the ball out of bounds while his feet were in bounds than he could stretch out and bring the ball back in bounds for a legal catch.

So when the refs moved the ball back to the spot that's when it got even worse because that should never have happened since it was ruled out of bounds - placing it a the 40.

Clearly a blown call and the league might have something to say about it, but in the end it didn't affect the outcome.

 

[anks106]

The refs clearly blew that call, but here's how I think they saw it and it unfolded, and why it was a blown call..

The ball bounced off of the Philly players' hands/arm which the ref interpreted as out of bounds. This is a judgment call and cannot be reviewed.

Now the flaws w/ this call.
If the player was deemed out of bounds than the ball should have been placed at the 40. It was initially and then moved back to the spot.

The players feet were in bounds and the ball bounced back into the field of play making it a live ball. For example, if a receiver were to catch the ball out of bounds while his feet were in bounds than he could stretch out and bring the ball back in bounds for a legal catch.

So when the refs moved the ball back to the spot that's when it got even worse because that should never have happened since it was ruled out of bounds - placing it a the 40.

Clearly a blown call and the league might have something to say about it, but in the end it didn't affect the outcome.

Clearly a blown call, and I don't see it on the replays.. which is annoying (doesn't it seem like they are making a conscious effort to hide any questionable play nowadays? you never see replays of penalties or missed penalties like you used to). I saw it as the player was out of bounds when it touched him. That would give it to the Eagles on the 40, I don't think it makes a difference in the outcome, but I don't it was Cardinal ball.

 

[anks106]

Do a search on my posts from last night. I linked to it a few times for the Curtis/Hood 4th down play.

Saw your link, play is not in it that highlight

 

[BCEagle]

I was quite drunk, but I thought the Eagle was out of bounds and it touched his arm.. was I wrong? I thought we got a break there, what actually happened?

The ruling was that Abiamiri touched the ball while he was out of bounds. If you look at the replay, the ball clearly lands inbounds, Abiamiri's left foot comes down on the line. Apparently Abiamiri touches the ball either intentionally or by accident. Once a player steps out of bounds with the ball, the play is dead and can no longer be reviewed. I'm not sure why that is a rule, but that is what it is. The ruling was correct only if Abiamiri actually touched the ball, which I'm not sure he did. At no point did it look like the ball travelled out of bounds.