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!

Undefeated Patriots Must Overcome Refs, Too

OK, I haven't been posting much fantasy sports stuff here lately, but I'm going to write something in this space to get it off my chest. I'm sick of the bad officiating in the NFL! And what's worse, I'm sick of the way people just let it go, like it's expected, it's OK, it's part of the game, the calls even out, etc. Grrrr!

It reminds me of the current state of government in the US today. Bush and his henchman lie and lie and lie, and almost nobody calls them on it. (Except you, Keith Olbermann. And we love you for it. And Jon Stewart. And Bill Maher. And Dennis Kucinich. But, you get my point. I mean, despite these heroic truth-tellers, the bastards in DC are still lying, and they're still in office!)

Similarly, the mainstream media is in bed with the NFL to the point where commentators can't even comment on the bad calls that mar our beloved weekend pass-time. The only guy I've found who will actually blast the refs like they deserve to be blasted is Bill Simmons. His piece on the Colts-Pats debacle is the most wonderfully, artfully pissed-off treatise on the subject of bad calls ever written. Don't stop Bill! Keep it comin'!

Every week I see calls that shouldn't be called that are, and calls that should be made that aren't. I've been watching football since I was 9. I know the rules. I have 2 eyes and a satellite dish. I Windex my TV screen every week. Well, most every week. Well, I have the kids do it. When I think of it. But I know I'm not crazy, because every week Boston.com's discussion board has a thread about the bad calls, and it's usually the longest and most active thread on the site. So why then don't the reporters, you know, report on it? There should be a whole column devoted to analyzing the refereeing in every Monday newspaper. The zebra-striped guys have as much control over the outcome of the game as any player or coach, but most of the time, we don't even know the ref's names.

So OK, without further frothing, here they are, the worst calls from last night's Patriots-Eagles game.

1. Second quarter, 10:39 remaining. Eagles do a weird backward pass to Avant, where he scrambles trying a flea-flicker. The Eagles OL #72, in full wide-open view, shoves Vrabel in the back as Avant reverses field. Vrabel's #60 is clearly visible belly-skidding across the screen. A blatant block in the back is not called.

2. Randy Moss is grabbed by an Eagle defender on his crossing route, such that his jersey sleeve is actually flipped over, exposing the shoulder pad, which flapped in the breeze as he ran for the subsequently incomplete pass. No pass interference called.

3. Third quarter. Offensive pass interference on Randy Moss in the end zone, negating a touchdown.

4. Third quarter, immediately following. Gostkowski's field goal, a chip-shot from 32 yards that would have been the 3-point consolation prize after the 7 points were taken off the board, is called no good.

No doubt about it, it was close. He was kicking from the right hash so he hooked it, and it went over the left goal post. Think about it. The angle alone implies that the ball was between the goal posts before it went over the goal post. He's seen smiling and shaking is head on his way back to the sidelines. I said, "We'll see that again after the break." Then our friends in the mainstream media came dutifully back with the replay, complete with k-zone-esque technology heretofore unseen in football, that showed the ball was in fact, good. Just barely, but good. Now think about where the refs are. They're positioned under the goal posts. You'd think they could see this even more clearly, but noooooo, they blew it, just as they blew it last week in the Cleveland game with the ball went through and bounced backward off the support. (Damnedest thing I've ever seen, BTW.)

What really burns me is non-existent offensive pass interference. That's 7 points! It better be a real penalty! Some will say it was calling the play correctly but perhaps too closely, but I can't even say it was a ticky-tacky call. Madden and Michaels watched the replay and said, "I've yet to see the pass interference." But after that, that's it! It's forgotten. We can't watch a single Pats game without hearing about "spy gate" or "camera gate" or whatever they call it, but we never hear about how a playoff game was thrown to Denver because of the Worst Pass Interference Call in the History of the World. (Called on Asante Samuel. See comment 9 here; this guy still remembers!)

But this one may actually be the Worst Pass Interference Call in the History of the World. And the Pats still won that game, and last night's game. Looks like New England will have to go undefeated against not only the Colts and Eagles and the rest of the league, but the Zebras, as well.