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AFC Championship

4th Quarter | :27 remaining | Patriots 23-20 | Ravens ball | 2nd & 1 @ NE 14 | video

The Ravens, driving for a potential conference-winning touchdown against the Patriots, found themselves a dropped pass short in their effort. They had to settle for a field goal attempt to tie the game, and were denied a shot at destiny on the missed field goal.

On the second-down pass in the end zone, Ravens receiver Lee Evans was not able to secure the catch in the right corner of the end zone. Patriots defensive back Sterling Moore saved the Patriots fortunes by jarring the ball loose, causing the ball to fall incomplete. After the network replayed the incompletion, there was a collective eek from the audience. It is close enough to be reviewed, isn’t it? The replay official determined that it did not warrant another look from referee Alberto Riveron and the call stood.

But should the replay official have challenged the call because this is a pivotal moment in a championship game? Depends not only on who you ask, but when.

NFL spokesman Mike Signora backed up the call made by the replay official:

The ruling on the field of an incomplete pass was confirmed by the Instant Replay assistant, correctly, and as a result, there was no need to stop the game

(As a side note, we refer to the person in the replay booth as the “replay official,” to be consistent with the NFL rule book. All references in the rule book to “replay assistant” were changed in the last offseason, with no reason published at the time. We believe it is to reflect the increased decisions he is required to make after scoring plays and after the two-minute warning.)

Mike Pereira, the Fox Sports rules-interpretation jukebox, gave his assessment on Sunday, via text message to Pro Football Talk, that matched the league response:

Clearly not a catch. Ball coming out before second foot clearly down. . . .  No need to review it because it was clearly incomplete.

(Another side note: this was not posted on Twitter, as Pereira usually does, because of a Twitter brownout yesterday. Or something like that.)

So the 2012 Mike Pereira would disagree with the 2009 Pereira, who was then the vice-president of officiating for the NFL:

Next time it happens, at this point of the game, this big of a play, let’s go ahead and [call for a replay review].

His 2009 doppelgänger was referring to a play near the end of Super Bowl XLIII, when Cardinals quarterback  Kurt Warner fumbled in the late stages of the game, when it looked like it was possible that it was an incomplete pass. No replay review was called, but Pereira acknowledged that it should be standard protocol to double check these things at the end of a game, because the calls are just too crucial.

It appeared that this advice was followed early in the 2009 season (we called it a “critical juncture review clause“). Apparently, it was forgotten. If it was ever committed to internal policy, it has since been retracted.

And, while it doesn’t silence the conspiracy theorists, the replay official did his job and the ruling on the field –  a correct one — stood.

A post over at NBC Philadelphia’s Birds Nest blog adds up the statistics of penalty flags per game through the first 13 weeks. The most over-officious (thanks for the term, Marv Levy) of the crews are:

• Ed Hochuli
• Jeff Triplette
• Tony Corrente

Least likely to penalize are, starting at the least are:

• Scott Green
• Pete Morelli
• Alberto Riverón

The numbers indicate accepted and declined calls.

Week 12: Colts at Chargers

An item that flew by our desk late last week that we are getting to now: Colts head coach Jim Caldwell, quoted in Friday morning’s Indianapolis Star, said that the league admitted to a blown call in the game the previous Sunday.

An Eric Weddle interception of Colts’ quarterback Peyton Manning should not have counted according to the NFL, said Caldwell. Weddle was guilty of pass interference on Reggie Wayne, however none of the officials called it (video). Weddle returned the interception for a touchdown in a game where one score was not decisive. While pointing out the mea culpa, the league never apologized for the error, Coach Caldwell said:

Sorry is not part of their response. It’s just a declaration that, “We did indeed miss that one; it should have been called.”

Alberto Riverón’s crew was officiating.

Recently fired Vikings head coach Brad Childress revealed NFL confidential discussions of this nature in Week 7 and was fined $35,000 for the infraction. The Steelers also had a Week 9 discussion leak from an unidentified source.

Week 4:Redskins at Eagles

Eagles coach Andy Reid assumed responsibility for a critical delay of game call, but ultimately feels that an error in crew mechanics was to blame. Well, he didn’t come right out and say that; he just said that if he spoke his mind in answer to a reporter’s question, “that would be an expensive answer.”

Reid called a timeout after a replay review to confirm the spot. Since the timeout occurred after an administrative stoppage (the replay) the timeout granted was the 30-second variety. Presumably referee Alberto Riverón announced that at the start of the timeout, but Reid missed that. As quarterback Kevin Kolb entered the huddle, there was 10 seconds on the play clock, with the expiration of the timeout catching the Eagles by surprise (video).

The league backed up the call by the officials:

The instant replay review was to determine if the ball broke the plane of the goal line. Replay confirmed the ruling on the field, so the original spot — just inside the one yard-line — stood.

In terms of the delay of game and the mechanics of re-starting play after a timeout, the referee blows his whistle, makes a physical and verbal signal to the bench area, and then gives the signal for the play clock to begin. This is what took place in Sunday’s game.

Week 11: Redskins at Cowboys

In the closing seconds of the second quarter of the Redskins–Cowboys game, Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell was driven out of bounds for a 5-yard loss as he threw a forward pass. Replay official Bob McGrath called for a review, and referee Alberto Riverón reversed the call on the field to incomplete pass.

The play, however, was not reviewable. The league office informed Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of this.

It’s not abundantly clear in the rulebook, as we have two seemingly contradictory statements:

The Replay System will cover the following play situations only:

(a) Plays governed by Sideline, Goal Line, End Zone, and End Line: …

3. Runner/receiver in or out of bounds.

(b) Passing plays:

1. Pass ruled complete/incomplete/intercepted in the field of play.

Since the call on the field was out of bounds, any subsequent action by Campbell is disregarded, even if it actually happened in bounds. This is because the play is ruled dead at that point.

There are exceptions to the “ball is dead” edict, as in the case of a clear recovery of a fumble or interception when an incomplete pass is overturned on replay. In these cases, there is no new action after the dead ball other than the recovery. What Riverón’s ruling on the play did was establish two new actions after a dead ball, namely, that a pass was subsequently thrown and the pass was incomplete.

If we were to take a different scenario for the same play, and say that there was an on-field ruling of incomplete pass, this could be reviewed to see if Campbell stepped out prior to releasing the pass.

Further complicating the ruling was that the Redskins were assessed a delay of game penalty prior to the replay review being called. (This is legal, because the replay official can review the last play until a legal snap has occurred.) In an Emmit Brown-like paradox of the universe, it was determined that the delay of game could not have occurred because of the reversal, and the gamebook does not even reflect the fact that it was called.

One comment made by Jones, a former Competition Committee member, argued that the media were in contact with the league’s Park Avenue offices during the game. He suggests, in a very NHL-esque fashion, that “We’ve got to get going where there’s communication between [the league office in] New York and the games.” Unfortunately, the average official is correct only 98% of the time. There is only 60 seconds to review the play, and the officials who have been hired to officiate a game must do their job without outside help. Yes, there are extraordinary circumstances, such as lightning or fan interference that warrant consultation with the executive level. But other than those once-in-a-career moments, the referee’s decision, even if incorrect, is final.

Week 5: Jets at Dolphins

In the first quarter of the Jets–Dolphins Monday Night Football game, referee Alberto Riverón paid tribute to Hispanic Heritage Month with the first penalty call of the game.

We asked the public relations staff at Land Shark Stadium for the text of the call, but they were unable to get that for us. We reconstructed the call, by our best guess, based on the rule book at NFLatino.com: Update, 10/13/09: Jared Cooper of the NFL communication department came through for us and provided us with the call:

Salida falsa, ofensiva. Numero ochenta y uno. Falta de cinco yardas, repite el segundo down.

[False start, offense. Number 81. Five-yard penalty, repeat second down.]

Ed Hochuli also gave a call in Spanish during the October 2005 game played in Mexico City.

Week 4: Titans at Jaguars

Yikes! The catch-into-the-ground calls took a week off last week, but we are looking at the fourth controversial review of a touchdown (or non-touchdown) catch in as many weeks. The current controversial call came in the Titans–Jaguars game.

Nearing halftime, a pass to Jaguars receiver Mike Sims-Walker was ruled incomplete in the end zone, based on the rule that a receiver going to the ground must maintain control through to the ground (video). On a replay review, referee Alberto Riverón overturned the ruling by back judge Lee Dyer in interesting fashion. The reversal call:

The receiver possesses the ball. As he is going down in the end zone, he has three feet down, and, as a second act, the defender slaps the ball away. Therefore, it is a touchdown.

The description given by Riverón was absolutely horrible. Here is the replay reversal announcement, if we were giving it:

The receiver got two feet down in the end zone, then landed on the defender, completing the process of the catch. The call on the field is reversed: touchdown.

This is the second use of “a second act” in a catch/replay announcement. (Don Carey referred to the “second act” of stretching over the plane of the goal in Week 2.) This is moving us back to the old determination of a catch: two feet in bounds, and then make a “football move.” The “second act” is irrelevant and misleading verbiage. In the case of the Jaguars touchdown, once the catch was completed, it was a touchdown and a dead ball. Therefore, the “second act” doesn’t even occur during the play.

Keep in mind that a player, once the receiver lands solid to the ground, the process of the catch is finished. If there is a player underneath the receiver, we don’t apply new rules that come from the “down by contact” section of the rulebook. So, it was a bad call by Dyer on the original incomplete call and a bad call on the description given by Riverón.

Update: According to the league’s supervisor of officials, the original call by Dyer was correct, the replay reversal was wrong, as were we.