Senser81
VSN Poster of the Year
It was another "blah" week of NFL football. While I enjoyed the Packers-Vikings game for the drama of it, the game itself was very poorly played. Neither team did the little things to win, and it was just a question of who would screw up more. I did notice a lot of strange officiating decisions, many of which involved the instant replay system.
*Roethlisberger's fumble at the goal-line was an interesting case. In years past, the officials usually would let the play go, not blow the whistle, and then have replay sort it out. But here the officials kind of screwed themselves by signaling touchdown. The Steelers lucked out, although I didn't quite understand the explanation from the official. Miami clearly recovered the ball, but perhaps that was because the Steelers had thought they had already scored.
*In the "we have too many rules" category, I didn't understand the replay reversal of Shiancoe's TD catch in the Packers-Vikings game. I thought they had previously made a rule where the ball could touch the ground as long as the receiver demonstrated possession. IMO, Shiancoe demonstrated possession and the initial call on the field was TD, so to claim that you had indisputable evidence of Shiancoe not having possession is ridiculous. I didn't understand the official's explanation on that one, either.
*The officials blew a big call in the Bears-Redskins game on Cutler's fumble. It seemed like Cutler scored initially, got pushed back, then stuck the ball out to score again, then fumbled. The Bears had two options on a challenge...they could argue that Cutler scored, and they could argue that Cutler's forward progress had stopped. But, being the Bears, they chose not to "waste" a challenge on a play that wiped away a TD and resulted in a change of possession. Lovie Smith's retarded/smug postgame comments have to be heard to be believed.
*Another odd call in the Packers-Vikings game was a late 4th down attempt by Green Bay. The Packers RB plows into a pile of bodies, is stopped initially, but continues forward across the pile and lands a good two yards past the first down marker. At that point, we hear the first whistle indicating the play is over, but the officials are spotting the ball about 3 yards back and indicating Minnesota's ball. Huh?
*Finally, the worst call of the week goes to the Ravens-Bills game, where in OT we had a rugby style play of the Ravens holding up the Bills WR until Ray Lewis can rip the ball from him. I thought that was the point of the referees having whistles? Not much was made afterwards about this ridiculous call, but since it was the Bills I'm sure not many people cared.
*Roethlisberger's fumble at the goal-line was an interesting case. In years past, the officials usually would let the play go, not blow the whistle, and then have replay sort it out. But here the officials kind of screwed themselves by signaling touchdown. The Steelers lucked out, although I didn't quite understand the explanation from the official. Miami clearly recovered the ball, but perhaps that was because the Steelers had thought they had already scored.
*In the "we have too many rules" category, I didn't understand the replay reversal of Shiancoe's TD catch in the Packers-Vikings game. I thought they had previously made a rule where the ball could touch the ground as long as the receiver demonstrated possession. IMO, Shiancoe demonstrated possession and the initial call on the field was TD, so to claim that you had indisputable evidence of Shiancoe not having possession is ridiculous. I didn't understand the official's explanation on that one, either.
*The officials blew a big call in the Bears-Redskins game on Cutler's fumble. It seemed like Cutler scored initially, got pushed back, then stuck the ball out to score again, then fumbled. The Bears had two options on a challenge...they could argue that Cutler scored, and they could argue that Cutler's forward progress had stopped. But, being the Bears, they chose not to "waste" a challenge on a play that wiped away a TD and resulted in a change of possession. Lovie Smith's retarded/smug postgame comments have to be heard to be believed.
*Another odd call in the Packers-Vikings game was a late 4th down attempt by Green Bay. The Packers RB plows into a pile of bodies, is stopped initially, but continues forward across the pile and lands a good two yards past the first down marker. At that point, we hear the first whistle indicating the play is over, but the officials are spotting the ball about 3 yards back and indicating Minnesota's ball. Huh?
*Finally, the worst call of the week goes to the Ravens-Bills game, where in OT we had a rugby style play of the Ravens holding up the Bills WR until Ray Lewis can rip the ball from him. I thought that was the point of the referees having whistles? Not much was made afterwards about this ridiculous call, but since it was the Bills I'm sure not many people cared.
