Football Zebras.com

Don’t expect to read Ed Hochuli defend his calls online. He and the rest of the officials have a social networking ban imposed on them.

In rules just released—which is a reaction to number eight-five of the Bengals, Chad Ochocinco, and his claim that he would connect with fans via Twitter midgame—the NFL mainly placed restrictions on players and credentialed media for tweeting during games. However, a full-out ban was added for referees, even midweek.

The NFL’s muzzling of the officiating crew is not surprising, after Hochuli apologized for a blown call that could not be overturned during a Chargers–Broncos game last year. The call allowed the Broncos to keep possession and score the winning touchdown.

After the game, Hochuli was besieged by e-mails at the law firm where he serves as an attorney during the work week. Remarkably, Hochuli responded to his critics, regretting he made the bad call. The NFL stepped in immediately and ordered Hochuli to not respond to e-mails about his gridiron work.

As a result of the ban, we are missing a crucial element of the game: the perspective of the third team on the field. While we are seeking clarification on the rules, it would appear sites such as this are off limits as well, depriving the fans of unique insight.

After only two full quarters in the new Cowboys Stadium, a punt banged into the overhead video screen, despite its 90-foot clearance. The NFL spent less than a week to make the ruling clear on how such anomalies are handled.

From the NFL:

After consulting with the Competition Committee and NFL staff, the commissioner said the following will be in effect for all remaining preseason, regular season, and postseason games of the 2009 season:

1. If a ball in play strikes a video board, guide wire, sky cam, or any other object, the ball will be dead immediately, and the down will be replayed at the previous spot.
2. If there is not an on-field ruling that the ball struck an object, the Replay Assistant is empowered to initiate a booth review, including if the event occurs prior to the two-minute warning. If, prior to the two-minute warning, no booth review is initiated by the Replay Assistant, a coach’s challenge is permitted under the customary procedures for such a challenge.
3. In the event the down is replayed:

(a) The game clock will be reset to the time remaining when the snap occurred.

(b) All penalties will be disregarded, except for personal fouls which will be administered prior to replaying the down.

The press release goes on to state that this rule change is limited to the 2009 season, because Rule 3, Section 1 of the playing rules requires interim changes to be reviewed by the Competition Committee for permanency.

Preseason Week 2: Titans at Cowboys

Jeff Fisher, in his capacity as competition committee chair, is calling a teleconference of the committee regarding an unusual circumstance in a game he coached, Friday’s Titans-Cowboys game.

A punt by backup Titans punter A.J. Trapasso hit the overhead video screen (video at 1:10). Initially, none of the referees saw the ball deflect off of the video screen, so Fisher called for a replay review. (This is not a reviewable call, but the officiating crew determined without review that the ball came in contact with the video screen.)

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the rule is that the play is nullified and replayed. However, the game officials had the clock reset as if the play never happened — something not typical when a penalty nullifies the play.

“We haven’t talked at all about time being put on the clock,” [NFL director of officiating, Mike Pereira]  said. “The only thing we’ve talked about really is the do-over of the play. We’ve never talked about resetting the clock back to where it was. That’s obviously something we’re going to have to talk about. And that may be what we arrive at.

“I would say that it’s a big enough issue that we’re going to have to address it with the competition committee here probably sometime this week to figure out what direction we want to go.”

This was the first game played in the new Cowboys Stadium, and according to Farmer’s report, punters from both teams were able to hit the scoreboard several times. This may not be the last time this happens in a game. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones states that he will not move the video screens, despite the fact that the stadium will do so for an uncoming U2 concert.