1st Quarter | 1:46 | Giants 10-3 | Packers ball | 1st & 10 @ NYG 39 | video (at 1:21)

We are going to deconstruct the big call from Sunday’s NFC divisional playoff game, not to defend it, but to answer the questions surrounding it and the decisions that were made.

As the Packers were driving to answer a go-ahead touchdown by the Giants  in the first quarter, quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed a pass to receiver Greg Jennings. Jennings turned up field and gained about three yards when the ball came loose.

The loose ball was immediately scooped up by Giants cornerback Kenny Phillips. The play continues live, so Philips runs about 12 yards before going out of bounds.

(1) Keeping the play alive. In the live camera angle and all of the replay angles aired on television, veteran head linesman George Hayward and side judge Larry Rose follow the action as Phillips returns the apparent fumble. The audience was whisked away to commercial, not knowing that a conference developed between the officials.

(2) Post-play discussion. The more that instant replay has become entrenched in the game has lead to a new officiating anomaly: let the play go and sort it out in the end. There is some merit to that approach, as whistles do not have erasers, but a call-by-committee can always be enacted after the fact.

The only other official that could be involved in the play is the back judge, Scott Helverson. His position, unseen in the replays, would be roughly the center of the field, and probably 10 to 20 yards downfield, so that he doesn’t get passed like a stalled car. (There exists an outside  possibility that the field judge could have been involved, but he is patrolling the opposite sideline from the play.)

Probably Helverson saw something that gave him the impression that Jennings had a knee down prior to the fumble, or he would not have tried to appeal to the other two covering officials. In the end, the three officials came to an agreement that the play is down by contact prior to the fumble occurring.

(3) Why not just let replay sort it out? Replay is a tool to correct mistakes, not a crutch to buttress up flaky or indecisive calls. They must make decisions based on their observations in real time, and not what would be convenient for the replay system to sort out. Therefore, an official who, armed only with his observation, must make a decisive call (conferring with others if necessary) and stick with it. All of the officials that get playoff assignments are graded on their decisiveness in making calls, in addition to their on-field accuracy. Also, for an official to rely on the ability for a team to challenge a call deprives that team of one of their precious challenges.

(4) Giants challenge. Giants coach Tom Coughlin saw what we all saw from our favorite football-watching chair: Jennings lost control of the ball prior to being down. The challenge, had it been ruled in favor of the Giants, would have given them the ball, but the 12-yard runback by Phillips would not count, even though the officials originally let the play continue.

(5) Replay review. Up to this point, three officials were involved in the call. Now, referee Bill Leavy, in consultation with the replay official, will intervene on his sole judgement of the video. Leavy is allowed to observe one aspect of the play in one angle, and compare it to another aspect in a different angle. But, he only has 60 seconds to do so.

Remember, Leavy wasn’t covering the play, so some of that 60 seconds goes to getting the first visuals of the tackle.

To rule down by contact, the ball carrier must have a body part other than his hand or foot touching the ground while in possession of the ball. While the ball clearly came out prior to Jennings’ knee hitting, Leavy apparently focused on his shin. These are the angles he was served up:

Leavy should have noticed the position of the ball carrier’s elbow, because that could tell him when the ball was out in angle A and when the shin was down in angle C. The ball definitely came out prior to the shin contacting the ground.

(6) The call. In replay, the rule is that there must be indisputable visual evidence that the call on the field is to be overturned. If Leavy does not piece the angles together in time to make a decision, then he must leave the call as is.

As Leavy enters the field to announce his judgment, Helverson, the back judge, is seen walking with Leavy. Therefore, he must have been part of the original call.

After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands.

Had Leavy seen a body part on the ground prior to the ball out, he would have said the call was “confirmed.” Because he said it “stands,” it means that Leavy did not see conclusive evidence or his allotted review time expired.

(7) But what if the play was initially ruled a fumble? If the fumble and the runback were ruled initially, and the Packers challenged, then what? In this hypothetical, Leavy would have likely ruled the same: inconclusive evidence. The Packers would have lost the ball, the Giants would have been entitled to the 12-yard runback, and the Packers would not have had kept their touchdown drive going. It could have been a huge momentum shift in the game.

(8) The league responds. Rather than give a full-throated defense of Leavy, NFL spokeman Greg Aiello e-mailed a tepid response to Pro Football Talk, citing sections of the rulebook.

Referee Bill Leavy conducted the instant replay video review and determined that there was no indisputable visual evidence to warrant reversing the on-field ruling of down by contact.  As a result, the ruling on the field stood.

What was said was true, in a plain, matter-of-fact fashion. What was not said is plainly visible behind the sheer curtain. The league backed up its employee’s judgment call. Nowhere in this response is Carl Johnson, the league’s vice-president of officiating.

Although the league is pretty staunch in its defense of Leavy, they will audit the video from the replay machine. The officiating department has a recording of the 60-second replay session, as well as any communication between the field and the replay booth.

(9) The bottom line. I don’t see any way this can be resolved by changing anything in the replay system. There have been suggestions to move all replay reviews to a central “war room” at the league’s offices in Manhattan, much like the NHL conducts its replay reviews at the home office.

However, it is still up to human judgment which is not without mistake. Who are the supervisors of the officials that make these decisions? They are former referees — referees just like Leavy. So at any given time, the same judgment is rendered.

Also, football is a complex sport. The referee at least has the opportunity to consult with the covering officials prior to viewing a replay. Sometimes there are many aspects of a replay reversal that need to be announced, which could lead to a misleading description if the decision is relayed to the official over the phone. It would be like taking down driving directions without paper – and 70,000 people looking at you.

But, clearly, the wrong call was made, and thankfully it did not result in a change of fortune in a playoff game.

The ruling on the previous play was that the receiver gave himself up by going to the ground. That cannot be challenged. So there is no challenge allowed by Arizona. It is first down, New York.

From the video, it appeared as if the initial ruling was made by headlinesman Jerry Bergman. (Back judge Tony Steratore is shown in a replay covering the play as a fumble, but he did not throw his beanbag marker that would indicate he was ruling it that way.)

From the NFL Rulebook, Rule 7, Section 2, Article 1:

An official shall declare the ball dead and the down ended:

(e) when a runner is out of bounds, or declares himself down by falling to the ground, or kneeling, and making no effort to advance

A player need not slide, as what was commented on some broadcast outlets, in order to qualify for declaring himself down under Item (e), because the criteria for a slide is contained in Item (d).

The fact that Cruz stayed to the ground for a brief period allows this interpretation of declaring himself down to be made. But was he down long enough?

Take another example where a player on the receiving team catches an onside kick. He secures the catch and immediately flops to the ground. Play is over immediately, because the receiver declared himself down. In the case of Cruz’s open-field catch, he must demonstrate an intention to change his status from runner to declared down. In Cruz’s case, we would expect to see him down longer than the hypothetical onside-kick receiver who is never considered a runner.

It is an issue of perception, just like when a player’s forward progress is stopped. Once the official makes that snap judgment that the player is giving himself up, there is no swallowing of the whistle, even if contrary evidence is provided.

Quick calls

• Steelers at Ravens | 1st quarter | 2:47 remaining | video. One of the first uses of the new all-touchdowns-subject-to-review rule reversed a Ravens touchdown in the first quarter. A Ray Rice run was ruled down by contact at the 1, as James Farrior barely touched Rice as he went to the end zone. It doesn’t matter if the touch caused Rice to go to the ground; the mere fact he was touched at a moment when he was stumbling counts as down by contact.
  3rd Quarter | :44 remaining | video. Referee Tony Corrente, trying to break up a fight between these division rivals, took a hard spill to the turf. Corrente continued in the game. According to his former boss, Mike Pereira, he’s doing fine. There was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the play, unrelated to Corrente’s fall, against Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor. Photo credit: @SportingBecky.
• Chiefs at Bills | 2nd Quarter | 12:22 remaining | video at :55. A Chiefs touchdown was taken off the board by the new rule as well. A catch by Leonard Pope was ruled incomplete because he did not have control of the ball as he stepped out of bounds. Chiefs were sacked on the next play, then missed the 48-yard field goal. Costly call, but correct.

(referee assignments courtesy Football-refs.com)

Referee Assignments

Thursday, Sept. 8

• Saints at Packers: Clete Blakeman

Sunday, Sept. 11

• Falcons at Bears: Ed Hochuli
• Bengals at Browns: Bill Leavy
• Bills at Chiefs: Scott Green
• Eagles at Rams: Gene Steratore
• Lions at Buccaneers: Walt Anderson
• Titans at Jaguars: Mike Carey
• Steelers at Ravens: Tony Corrente
• Colts at Texans: Walt Coleman
• Giants at Redskins: Ron Winter
• Vikings at Chargers: Terry McAulay
• Seahawks at 49ers: Jeff Triplette
• Panthers at Cardinals: Carl Cheffers
• Cowboys at Jets: Alberto Riverón

Monday, Sept. 12

• Patriots at Dolphins: Pete Morelli
• Raiders at Broncos: Jerome Boger

Mike Carey is the referee.

1st Quarter, 6:26 remaining. The Chiefs challenged the spot of the ball in relation to the first-down marker. Since Ravens running back Ray Rice landed with his hand first, he was not considered down until another part of his body contacted the ground. Ravens got the first down, which was upheld by replay.

3rd Quarter, :21 remaining. A ruling of a sack-fumble by Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb on Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel was challenged by the Chiefs. Under the controversial so-called tuck rule, Cassel was found to be still in the act of passing, so Webb knocking the ball out of Cassel’s hand should have resulted in an incomplete pass, rather than a fumble. Carey reversed the on-field ruling to an incomplete pass, marking the first replay reversal of the playoffs an the end of the eleventh quarter of this weekend games.

Packers at Eagles

Pete Morelli is the referee.

4th Quarter, 4:08 remaining. On a two-point conversion attempt, a huge administrative error was averted. A pass to Eagles receiver Brent Celek was completed for two points, however he stepped out of bounds prior to catching the pass (video). A penalty was assessed because a player who steps out of bounds cannot be the first player to touch a pass (illegal-touching-of-a-pass penalty). Celek caught the ball after he returned to (and re-established himself in) the field of play, however Morelli ruled that the conversion try was over. This would be correct if illegal touching is a loss-of-down penalty.

Before the ensuing kickoff, Eagles coach Andy Reid protested that his team should get another chance at the conversion try. One unidentified member of the officiating crew corrected the call, that the five-yard penalty must be assessed and the conversion try attempted from the 7-yard line. The point was moot as the Eagles failed on the second try, but thankfully the error was corrected in a timely fashion, even if slightly delayed.

4th Quarter, 1:06 remaining. Celek was injured on an incomplete pass later in the quarter. When an injury occurs in the final two minutes of the game, a team is charged a timeout. However, since the Eagles had already used all three timeouts, they were granted a fourth, free of penalty. According to Rule 4, Section 5, Article 4:

(d) No yardage penalty will be assessed for the first excess team timeout.

4th Quarter, :33 remaining. Tramon Williams intercepted Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in the end zone to seal the victory, but it could have reversed fortunes back to the Eagles. Williams left the end zone without being ruled down by contact, so the play continued to be live (video). If he had spiked or otherwise let go of the ball, it would have been considered a fumble. Fortunately for Williams, he went to the ground at the 4-yard line to end the play.

We have three calls for analysis—all three called correctly—from the Eagles–Giants game that will likely end up on this week’s “Official Review.” View the highlights of the game in addition to our analysis:

McNabb incomplete or fumble?

On a second-and-10 from the Eagles 42, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is hit with the ball going forward. The ball was nearly caught out of the air by the Giants and rolled dead (1:24 into highlight reel). Confusion reigned, as the ball was spotted 10 yards back following the play. Here is what each official ruled on the play:

• 

  Credit: NFL/NBC Sports

  Referee John Parry considered it a forward fumble by (A) tossing a beanbag marker to show the spot of the fumble.

• After the ball hit the ground and as it rolled to a stop, umpire Dan Ferrell assumed a “hovering” position (B) anticipating a recovery and a possible pileup on the loose ball.
• The line judge, Ron Marinucci, covering a possible interception, ruled it incomplete (C). However, since McNabb’s hand was empty as it was coming forward, it should not have been ruled incomplete. But, once an incomplete pass is called, the play is dead at that point—although if there was an immediate recovery by the Giants after the incomplete call, it would have been Giants possession at the dead-ball spot.
• The replay official could not call for a review because no player picked up the loose ball as the play was killed.

In this case, two rules come into play, with the applicable rule/section/article:

7–4–2. If a loose ball comes to rest anywhere in field and no player attempts to recover, official covering the play should pause momentarily before signaling dead ball (official’s time out).

8–7–6. If a fumble by either team occurs after the two-minute warning … (b) The player who fumbled is the only player of his team who is permitted to recover and advance the ball. (c) If the recovery or catch is by a teammate of the player who fumbled, the ball is dead, and the spot of the next snap is the spot of the fumble.

With no one recovering the ball, loosely this translated to an Eagles recovery, as they retain possession. Therefore, they were given the ball at the spot of the fumble, 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Fumble recovery at 2 seconds?

On a kickoff return, the Giants fumbled with a recovery by Moise Fokou of the Eagles as the first half expired, but with the aid of the television replay, approximately two seconds remained in the second quarter (no video available).  So why were the Eagles denied the possibility of a field goal to end the half?

• The replay official cannot intervene in a solely clock-based call or for a fumble recovery in the field of play.
• A fumble recovery does not immediately kill the clock. There has to be evidence of a recovery or a significant pileup of players to blow the play dead. By examining the replay, we are able to get the snapshot, but an official would be irresponsible to immediately blow the whistle. What if the ball were to somehow squirt out after the official called it dead?
• When the play is ruled dead, the line judge (primarily) is responsible for seeing that the clock is stopped in a reasonable manner. This could cause a delay, and, as is often noted, may go in the favor of the home team on occasion. (We cannot back that assertion up with anything statistical, but prove us wrong if you can point us to evidence.) This delay also is seen when the play clock runs to zero: there is usually a “beat” before officials throw a flag, because their eyes can’t observe both at the same time.

Manning’s fumble not down by contact

Giants quarterback Eli Manning, while scrambling for a 15-yard gain, went into a forward dive and lost the ball as he contacted the turf (video is at 2:50). This was ruled a fumble, as Manning was not contacted as he dove forward. The ground cannot cause a fumble when a player goes down by contact (which can be as little as a defensive player’s finger).

The replay review could have made a compelling case for the fact that Manning had his jersey grabbed, which caused him to go down. Counting the number of steps is not entirely relevant; if a player stumbles ten steps down the field after contact, it is still down by contact.

But, “could” is not good enough, as Parry was looking for “indisputable visual evidence,” and so the play, correctly, stands. But in an alternate universe, this play has two different outcomes:

• I think, had the play been called down by contact by virtue of the jersey tug, that there would not have been indisputable visual evidence to dispute that call.
• Had Manning slid feet first, he would have taken advantage of a dead-ball ruling, which would have not resulted in a fumble had he dropped the ball upon hitting the ground:

7–4–1. An official shall declare dead ball and the down ended: … (c) whenever a runner declares himself down by sliding feet first on the ground. The ball is dead at the spot of the ball at the instant the runner so touches the ground.

Also notable

Trent Cole was ejected with five seconds remaining in the game for throwing a punch. While there were offsetting personal fouls, a disqualification is never withdrawn because of offsetting penalties.

We commented a few weeks ago about Pereira’s modded Xbox 360 controller making its on-air debut and wondered why the change from his simple clicker device he used previously. Turns out that is his everyday equipment for reviewing plays. Pereira said that he was hesitant to try the new equipment, but the controller provides the ability to switch camera angles, as each play is reviewed from a minimum of three angles (the first two are nonbroadcast camera angles, the third is the live shot of the play, and additional angles come from television replays).

Pereira demonstrated the grading process for the officials using an ordinary incomplete pass play from the Giants–Broncos game on Thanksgiving. I counted him shuttling the tape more than 25 times to evaluate every player’s actions on the play. We here, and the rest of the Internet critics, focus on the controversial calls, while the officiating department evaluates some 150 plays per game.  Multiply those 150 plays by 256 games for a total of 38,400 plays. If Pereira used an average play for his demonstration—each of those plays getting reviewed 25 times—that means that in a season, his office does 1 million quality checks on its product a year. And, 98% of the time, the call is correct.

It is a very interesting look at the evaluation process, which also includes periodic written tests and other intangibles. You can see the demonstration on the part 2 video. On to the calls on the field:

• Pereira reviewed the “chaos to the nth degree,” as he aptly put it, of the final seconds of regulation in the Steelers–Ravens game. He backed up all of our points, but noted something that we did not realize. The crew, amazingly, had the foresight to place the specialized kicking ball for a field-goal kick. Pereira said that in rushed circumstances, the crew should not worry about spotting a “K” ball. He also acknowledged that referee Ed Hochuli forgot to mark the spot of the fumble with his beanbag, which might have jogged his memory of the correct spot when he went to retrieve it. Pereira did acknowledge that stopping the clock to conference about the spot would have been an unacceptable advantage to the Ravens.
• An early-third-quarter play in the Colts–Texans game gave the Colts 43 yards on a pass-interference penalty against the Texans. Pereira’s assessment was that “it was not a good call.”
• In the Buccaneers–Falcons game, the down-by-contact rule was reviewed that a player cannot be down if the contact preceeded the receiver catching the ball.