Official Review, Take Two

In my 2nd blog installment on the officiating in the NFL, which I'm now calling (cleverly, if I do say so) "Official Review," I'll take a look at last night's shocking, bizarre Pats-Ravens game.

As usual, questionable calls went both ways, but 2 calls were blown against the Patriots that had a huge impact on the game, plus a bonus wild-card call.

1. Holding. 4th quarter, Patriots down but driving. Kevin Faulk gashing holes and moving the chains. He converts a 1st down, but wait, a flag comes flying in from the back judge into the scrum after Faulk moved the pile past the pylon. Holding, offense. This call is fishy because: a.) It was a scrum of at least 6 or 7 guys, who was it called on? b.) The flag came in after his forward progress had ended and resulted in a 1st down, c.) and NO REPLAY. Given that you can call holding on most any play from scrimmage, and given the drive-momentum killing impact of this call, I give this one the Blown Whistle of the Game Award.

2. Brady's INT. Brady doesn't throw interceptions often. So infrequent are they, in fact, that one might wonder what might cause him to throw a pick. How about defensive holding? Yep. Brady was up in the ref's face barking loudly about the non-call on Welker, which led to the pick. (See photo, right.) Luckily, Faulk (who had a huge game) stripped Ed Reed at the end of his return, or this one would've really hurt.

In fact, Michael Felger at the Boston Herald reports that Brady, Moss, and Vrabel all had vociferous words for the officiating. Ravens DBs were clutching and grabbing the entire game, such that Brady felt the call in the end zone was long overdue.

3. Bonus. Offensive pass interference. Not that it matters because time ran out, but on the Hail Mary pass, Mason jumps on Samuel like he was looking for a piggy-back ride. Samuel popped up and argued with the ref immediately, but the clock read 0:00 anyway, thank god.

Meanwhile, Baltimore players and fans are fuming over (at least) 3 things.

1. The time-out. Some of their own players apparently don't realize this, but that timeout on 4th down, where the Ravens had apparently stopped the Patriots, was a legit timeout. The replay clearly shows the assistant coach calling time while standing next to the ref, who came running in before the snap, arms waiving off the play. That the players on the field didn't hear or see him is immaterial.

2. Gaffney's game-winning TD. Sorry guys, it's a catch. Some reports say he was "juggling" the ball. This is hogwash. He caught it cleanly and deftly on his fingertips and got both feet in. At the same time, he was tucking the ball under his arm as he would naturally do after any catch. To argue that this somehow isn't a catch is ridiculous.

[Common Sense Rant mode: On] By the way, the manner in which the NFL tries to define a catch -- using super-slo-mo to parse out every split-second to try to find an imperceptible loss of "control" of the ball -- has become ridiculous. What's wrong with "If the ball hits the ground, it's no catch?!" Randy Moss caught a TD pass and juggled it as he went out of bounds, but he still caught it, right? It never hit the ground, did it? I mean, who invented this whole "must control the ball" thing anyway? It's as dumb as that "football move" rule about whether it's a fumble or an incomplete pass. A fumble is a fumble! Sheesh! [CS Rant Mode: Off]

3. Racist remarks from a ref. OK seriously now, read this account: Caught by television cameras in the Ravens' locker room and replayed this morning on ESPN, chief among the raging Ravens complaints was an assertion that one official – head linesman Phil McKinnely -- repeatedly called Ravens defensive back Samari Rolle the word "boy." At least five times, Rolle said after the game. "I simply asked him, 'Man, have you played before? You know what's at stake here?' He called me a boy," Rolle said this morning on ESPN First Take. "He was like, "Man, shut up, boy. Go back to playing.'" "He knows he's a ref," Rolle said. "You can't do anything to him. It's mind-blowing, though, that a ref would talk to a player like that."

The entire (excellent, well balanced) article is here in the Baltimore Sun. This ugly incident, if true, speaks to everything wrong with officiating in professional sports today, from baseball umps who follow and goad ballplayers and coaches during arguments, to NBA officials involved in gambling scandals, to every bad call that affects a game outcome.

And now that you're good and lathered up, I'll leave you with this bit of levity. Perhaps the best summation of the officiating situation I've ever seen. And a genius idea for a commercial, too!