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AFC Wild Card

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Today’s crew:

• R — #34 Clete Blakeman (4th year, 2nd as referee)
• U — #102 Bruce Stritesky (6th year)*
• HL — #36 Tony Veteri (20th year)
• LJ — #45 Jeff Seeman (10th year)
• FJ — #82 Buddy Horton (13th year)
• SJ — #78 Greg Meyer (10th year)
• BJ — #111 Terrence Miles (4th year)
• Alternates — Tom Barnes (#55, LJ from Scott Green’s crew), Lee Dyer (#27, BJ from Terry McAuley’s crew)

Week 17: Chargers at Raiders

1st Quarter | 9:05 remaining | No score | Raiders ball | 1st & 10 @ SD 42 | video

Chargers linebacker Antwan Barnes contacted an official after an out-of-bounds reception by the Raiders, causing referee Clete Blakeman to eject Barnes.

There was only one replay offered, which did not show the foul. Barnes was tangling with two Raiders on the sideline, which the replay did show. Perhaps the official (don’t know which one) was struck in the separation.

• Bills at Patriots. @cRewFive1 tweeted Patriots head coach Bill Bellichick “ripped the official a new ass. Bitching about interior holding…ran down the LJ…TV picked up a few bad words.”
• Chiefs at Broncos. Discussing an obvious non-call of a Chiefs defender grasping the facemask of Tim Tebow, we tweeted that the umpire and referee were behind the quarterback, and were not in a position to see the foul.

The revelry is not limited to Times Square, as some excessive celebration penalties have been handed out on this first of January:

• Patriots at Bills. Bills receiver Stevie Johnson was penalized 15 yards for revealing a “Happy New Year 2012″ message printed on his undershirt following a touchdown (photo at link). Johnson was benched and will face a fine this week. What separates this from other celebrations, is that this was premeditated, rather than a celebration that momentarily becomes a penalty. Johnson did this in 2010 as well, and Bills coach Chan Gailey benched Johnson for his actions.
• Redskins at Eagles. A group celebration was flagged as being excessive on the Redskins.
• Lions at Packers (video). Packers receiver Ryan Grant apparently did an imitation “snow angel” in the end zone, although the video does not show it. The rules are that you cannot go to the ground in celebration.

Photo credit: Valerio Bruscianelli/The Gothamist

Week 17: Lions at Packers

1st Quarter | 13:00 remaining | Lions 7-0 | Lions kickoff | video

Updated below to include similar play from Chargers–Raiders.

Tough break for the Packers, as Patrick Lee muffs the Lions kickoff in the end zone. Lee remained in the end zone, but the ball rolled out to the 1-yard line. Lee pulled the ball back into the end zone for an apparent touchback.

Referee Walt Anderson had a lengthy conference with line judge Mike Spanier and headlinesman Ed Camp. Camp can be seen very clearly articulating the case for a safety, which is how it was ultimately ruled on the field.

On any play involving a touchback or safety, the ruling pivots on how the ball enters the end zone. If the kicking team puts the ball into the end zone, it is a touchback. When the ball is muffed, even though the direction of the ball changed, the force behind the ball still came from the kick. Once Lee pulled the ball backwards, it was Lee that forced the ball into the end zone, regardless of the fact that Lee was standing in the end zone.

Had Lee left the ball on the 1-yard line and kneeled, the ball would have been dead at the 1-yard line. It was close, but the kneel came after the ball returned to the end zone.

Also a consideration on the play (and confirmed by replay) is if the entire ball exited the end zone. If a point of the ball was still touching the goal line, Lee would have had a touchback.

Good, tough call in real time by the three officials on the play.

Week 17: Chargers at Raiders

4th Quarter | 9:32 remaining | Chargers 31-26 | Raiders kickoff @ 50

Chargers kick returner Richard Goodman allowed a kickoff to hit the ground and roll towards the end zone. He needed to get the loose ball, as either team could recover. Goodman scooped up the ball at the 1-yard line, retreated into his end zone, and barely got the entire ball out of the end zone.

Referee Clete Blakeman announced the ball was out of the end zone and down at the ½-yard line.

Week 13: Packers at Giants

3rd Quarter | 9:59 remaining | Packers 21-17 | Packers ball | 3rd & 9 @ NYG 20 | video

Packers squeaked out a touchdown to pad their third-quarter lead when receiver Greg Jennings caught an Aaron Rodgers pass and immediately dropped the ball. It was ruled a touchdown on the field (back judge Steve Freeman made the call), but was subject to a replay review.

Referee Jeff Triplette correctly upheld the touchdown. While the grip on the ball by Jennings was tenuous at best, it was enough to establish control of the ball with two feet down in the end zone.  The process-of-the-catch rule does not apply, because Jennings was not falling to the ground.

4th Quarter | 3:40 remaining | Packers 28-27 | Packers ball | 2nd & goal @ 7 | video

Did Donald Driver step out of bounds? This was the only angle for review. Credit: NFL/Fox Sports

Donald Driver caught another Rodgers pass when there was a question as to whether Driver stepped out of bounds prior to the catch. Under the rules, a player who goes out of bounds is not eligible to be the first player to touch a pass. The top Fox Sports crew had only one view of Driver’s potential foot-out-of-bounds, but that was a bad angle from the camera at the 50-yard line. Nonethless, Joe Buck, our highly trained announcer who has shown to be an expert in venue maintenance, also professed to be an expert in angular depth of perception by declaring that Driver had not stepped out.

In any case, it would have been a hairline call, but there was no indisputable evidence to overturn, so Triplette allowed the touchdown to stand.

Check @footballzebras for updates, or we will respond in the comments area of this post due to technical limitations this week.

Update. Some of our tweets, retweets and pretweets:

•  No #facemask foul if the runner stiff-arms the opp, but it is a penalty if there is a pull or twist of the facemask.
• No offsides for #Saints #PatrickRobinson on #BlockedFG. Perfectly timed with the snap.
• U #GarthDeFelice out with a foot injury.
• #NYG lucky to not have invalid fair catch signal on ko return
• I don’t profess to be a network-caliber director, but the so-called A team for Fox had only 1 (bad) angle to see if #GB stepped out on TD
• Tight, tight call for illegal contact on #NYG on a key drive.
• RT MikePereira The Jets have won 2 challenges so they are awarded a third.
• ATL has 2nd defensive TD nullified by penalty. Hard not to call holding when a shoulder pad pops out. Still tied 10-10.
• RT ProFootballTalk Richard Seymour ejected for throwing punch wp.me/p14QSB-ItM

Jeff Triplette, meet Dante Hicks. Much like the downtrodden cashier from Clerks, Triplette was not even supposed to be here this Sunday. Triplette was heading Scott Green’s crew while the rest of Triplette’s crew had the holiday weekend off.

So when overtime began in San Diego between the Broncos and Chargers, Triplette had a slight sleight of mind. During the coin toss, he announced to both teams:

Each team must have an opportunity to possess the football and score.

Except, that’s not the rule. At least not in the regular season. He was citing the newly enacted, never used rule that overtime goes into “modified sudden death” in the playoffs. But first score always wins during the regular season.

[Video link at NFL.com changed on us. We are looking for a new link to the announcement.]

Of course, there is much ado over nothing, as Triplette corrected his announcement. He is not the first referee to recant a misstated rule. With a 123-page rule book and 113-page case book that must be recalled on a moment’s notice, it’s actually a surprise that the officials are right more than 98% of the time.

But, it would be nice to not have an overtime coin-toss controversy on Thanksgiving weekend (see: 1998).

Week 12: Bears at Raiders

4th Quarter | :04 remaining | Raiders 25-20 | Bears ball | 1st & 10 @ CHI 46 | video

After completing a pass to receiver Matt Forte, Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie called for a spike to stop the clock. Hanie delayed, as if he intended to fake the spike, then committed to spiking the ball. Because a clock-stopping spike (ruled an incomplete pass) must occur immediately, the fact that Hanie delayed caused the play to be ruled intentional grounding, as if it was any other pass play. Also, the penalty carries a 10-second runoff, so the remaining four seconds were docked from the clock, and the game ended right there.

Refreree Ron Winter briefly conferenced on the penalty before the announcement, but it is absolutely the correct call.

From Rule 8, Section 2, Article 1:

Item 3: Stopping Clock. A player under center is permitted to stop the game clock legally to save time if, immediately upon receiving the snap, he begins a continuous throwing motion and throws the ball directly into the ground.
Item 4: Delayed Spike. A passer, after delaying his passing action for strategic purposes, is prohibited from throwing the ball to the ground in front of him, even though he is under no pressure from defensive rusher(s).

Week 12: Buccaneers at Titans

4th Quarter | 1:08 remaining | Titans 23-17 | Buccaneers ball | 3rd & 10 @ TEN 34
In a downpour with the clock running, Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman completed a pass to running back Kregg Lumpkin for 9½ yards. Although short, it was close, but the officials did not call for a measurement, nor did the replay official stop the play for a review.

Rather than clock the ball on fourth down (which would end the game on downs), Freeman hastily carried the ball, fumbling the wet ball in the process. With the clock under two minutes, the only Buccaneers player eligible to recover the fumble and advance it would be Freeman, since he was the fumbler.

Of course, the Bucs fans were looking for confirmation of the first down in the process. NFL.com posted video of the fourth-down play, but not the spot of the ball following the third-down play.