1st quarter | 2:09 remaining | video. It was like threading a needle, but the Redskins very carefully recovered a Cowboys fumble near the sideline. Good collaborative call from line judge Adrian Hill (#29) and field judge Craig Wrolstad on the initial call. It wasn’t until the fourth replay angle that we could see that the Redskins players were not out of bounds when touching the ball.

• Lions at Buccaneers | 2nd quarter | 10:34 remaining | video. Lions cornerback Chris Houston intercepted a Josh Freeman pass at the 1, with his momentum carrying him into the end zone. Two Buccaneer penalties prior to the interception were declined, and the Lions got the ball on the 1. Pereira pointed out that a taunting foul was missed.
• Giants at Redskins | 3rd quarter | 4:29 remaining. Referee Ron Winter had 60 seconds in a replay review to determine if (1) Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman was behind the line of scrimmage before a pass, (2) whether receiver Jabar Gaffney stepped out of bounds prior to the pass, and (3) whether Gaffney got both field in bounds after catching the ball. Pereira said at the time that there was no conclusive evidence to overturn on any; Winter disagreed with his old boss and reversed the play on number 3.
• Falcons at Bears | 3rd quarter | 7:15 remaining. A Devin Hester catch was thought to be a touchdown by the Bears, however referee Ed Hochuli could not see conclusive evidence that the ball crossed the plane of the end zone inside the pylon. (Video link for this play on NFL.com is broken.)
  2nd quarter | :08. Pereira noted that the half had about 2 seconds remaining at the end of the play, but the clock operator allowed the time to zero out. The clock used to be reviewable under hastily conceived rules applied for the 2009 postseason, but those rules could not be permanently implemented.
• Bills at Chiefs. Same as we reported in our Quick Calls, except Pereira said this was the first touchdown overturned by the new replay-review rule. We believe it happened in Baltimore first, but we don’t have a wall of TVs here.



Update: Someone has their wires crossed over at Fox Sports’ video provider. Pereira’s article has a video link to his analysis, but, rather than seeing him, we get a video of The Today Show — on NBC!

Referee Ed Hochuli won’t have the benefit of his informative public-address announcements to defend a flag in the second quarter of the Sunday night game.

Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com reports a helmet-to-helmet hit by Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty on Packers tight end Andrew Quarless was penalized 20 to 30 seconds after the play because Hochuli received visual confirmation from a scoreboard replay.

The scoreboard video can never be used by officials to make any ruling. Ever.

I have to see the video of the call myself, but it may not be relevant if Hochuli saw a penalizable action on the scoreboard. As the head referee, Hochuli doesn’t call downfield penalties, because his coverage area is the quarterback. However, Hochuli would make the ultimate call in a case where the covering officials are “tied” in their decision.

That said, the appearance of the use of the scoreboard video is troubling. This is likely to stoke the rumor mill, so I expect the league to make a statement on this by midweek, even if it is a one-sentence (or one-word) answer.

Also likely is that Patriots coach Bill Belichick will fry the video board director who rolled a replay that oddly may have disadvantaged the home team.

Belichick also addressed the highly litigious Hochuli crew: “Look these guys call the most penalties of any crew in the league. … We knew it was going to be a [tightly officiated] game, and it was. I’ve got to do a better job preparing the team.”

After administering a pass interference penalty at the 1-yard line, the Packers were trying to snap the ball quickly, which referee Ed Hochuli announced was impermissible:

We were coming out of a penalty and the team has the opportunity to line up. [Whistles heard after a pause.]

There was no timeout called. There was no timeout called. I came in and stopped the play, because coming out of an administrative stoppage, both teams need to come out and be set.

Thanks to the Sunday Night Football Extra online feed, I was not only able to rewind to see exactly what was being called, but could do so from multiple angles (something oddly missing from each team’s replay review capabilities). Within seconds of the penalty being announced and spotted, the Patriots are seen substituting at least four players when the Packers are huddled. (At least four are seen offsides in the picture, three entering and one leaving the field; there are others out of frame.) The Packers break the huddle at that point, trying to catch the Patriots shorthanded and offside.

A reasonable amount of time was not given, especially since the ball was as far away from the team bench as possible.

Unrelated post-script. A quick side note of appreciation from the Sunday Night Football crew for their work on a first down measurement. NBC brought one of their StediCams on the field to zoom in on the one-link-short measurement. In the photo below, you can see the live camera angle in the inset picture, with the overhead cable camera in the larger picture, revealing the StediCam operator. Now why he’s wearing shorts in sub-freezing Foxborough, Mass., is another story, but his shot was excellent.

(Lawyers, please, I try to keep game footage pictures to a minimum, only if the point can’t be illustrated otherwise. But, do appreciate the plug.)

Image credits: NFL/NBC Sports via Sunday Night Football Extra

• 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.

As a follow-up to the Ndamukong Suh penalty, referee Ed Hochuli (whose weekday and offseason job is a trial lawyer) explained his call following Sunday’s game, as he saw it:

Q: The personal foul on Suh, exactly what did you call and why?

Hochuli: I felt it was an unnecessary non-football act—a blow to the back of the runner’s helmet in the process of him going down.

Q: Did it have anything to do with the fact he was a quarterback?

Hochuli: Well, the quarterbacks receive more protection, but in that situation, no. In that situation, it was I felt an unnecessary blow, a non-football act as the runner was going to the ground.

Q: If the contact had been in the shoulder or not in the head, would it still have been a penalty?

Hochuli: I really would have to see it. I can’t speculate on something else that I didn’t see. But as I saw it, he hit him in the back of the helmet.

Q: Can you describe why that it is an unnecessary [act]?

Hochuli: When you tackle people, you come in, and you wrap up and come with your arms and things like that. I felt he delivered a blow to the back [of the] runner that happened to be the quarterback. That is why I was down there following it. He’s my responsibility.

As reported in the Detroit Free-Press, Suh had a very responsible answer to the controversy, especially considering Suh is a rookie:

I don’t judge calls. It’s not my job. My job is to go out there and play, get the ball out. It was a great opportunity to attack the ball. It just happened. Whatever. I was going for the ball, so that’s all that matters.

Ndamukong Suh, the Lions defensive tackle who was penalized erroneously for a horse-collar tackle two weeks ago, encores with another unearned 15-yarder. This time, head referee Ed Hochuli threw a flag on a tackle Suh made on Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Hochuli, never one to conserve his words, announced the penalty thusly:

Number 90 went to the head [gesturing with a forearm] from the back of the runner with his forearm. That is unnecessary and, by rule, a foul.

As Bad Calls Football.com points out, there was no forearm contact when Suh made the tackle. Furthermore, Cutler was an open-field runner at the time, which removes most of the quarterback-specific protections at that point.

There is video at the link.

Generally, we don’t call out “wrong” calls when they are judgment calls, except Hochuli provided an explanation for his ruling that was proved his judgment was not supported by the videotape. However, these specific calls do not count against the referee’s performance ratings (used for determining playoff assignments), as we’ve reported before, according to the Game-Related Discipline manual from the league:

The Competition Committee emphasizes that whenever a game official is confronted with a potential unnecessary-roughness situation and is in doubt about calling a foul, he should lean toward safety and not hesitate to throw the flag.

The same goes for his phantom horse-collar tackle.

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.

With only moments to think, officials can make decisions based on digesting a 115-page rulebook. On average, 98% of the time they get it right. When there is an error it could have an impact on the game. When divisional foes meet, it could have an impact on the playoffs.

In all fairness, though, even if a bad call occurs, there usually are several opportunities that the affected team did not take advantage of. Much like the weather, the officiating is an element of the game mostly out of the team’s control, but something good teams adapt to.

While most errors are inexcusable, this one has some mitigating circumstances. However, the call is still wrong, and mitigating circumstances do not help officials in their evaluations which determine playoff assignments.

Video of fumble and field goal attempt at NFL.com

In a hard-fought divisional game between the Ravens were within long field-goal range against the Steelers near the end of regulation. On third and 9 from the Steelers 34, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco fumbled the ball at the 42, which was recovered by the Ravens at the 37 with 18 seconds remaining. Out of timeouts, the clock was running while a fire-drill substitution of the field-goal personnel ensued.

Headlinesman Mark Hittner came in to mark the dead ball spot at the 37. While that was the correct dead-ball spot, the Ravens should have gotten the ball at the 42, the spot of the fumble. (The responsibility for the spot goes to the head referee, officially.) Sunday Night Football announcer Al Michaels, after the fact, did call attention to this.

NFL Rulebook 8–7–6: If a fumble by either team occurs after the two-minute warning:

(a) The ball may be advanced by any opponent.

(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, or the spot of the recovery if the spot of the recovery is behind the spot of the fumble.

Fortunately for Ed Hochuli’s crew, the field goal attempt was two yards short.

I do seem to remember a game in the last five years or so where the ball was spotted incorrectly before a field goal. (I’m looking for it; if you remember, put it in the comments.) Having realized the mistake, the officials wiped out the down, respotted the ball, and the field goal was taken five yards closer. Had there been a field goal from 56 yards, you can imagine the uproar if the officials salted the down to respot for a 61-yard field goal.

So while there was a major error, there are other circumstances that need to be considered:

• If there was a conference regarding the spot of the ball, Hochuli would have had to call an official’s timeout. This would have given the Ravens time to line up a field goal, which (we’ll never know) could have been an advantage on a 61-yard field-goal attempt.
• During the mass substitution, officials had to count that there were 11 players on the field. (Offense is counted by the umpire, line judge and headlinesman; defense by the side judge, field judge and back judge.)
• The field judge and back judge had to position themselves under the uprights for the kick.
• The line judge and headlinesman were watching for the offense to be set for a full second prior to a snap.
• The headlinesman was on the Steelers sideline, so it was possible that the coach could have signaled a timeout prior to the kick.

However, as the vice-president of officiating will probably tell us in his weekly “Official Review” video, having too much to think about is not an acceptable excuse. Fortunately, the spot of the ball did not have a determination on the final score or playoff seedings.

• Backtracking to Week 9, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was fined $20,000 for arguing a call with referee Ed Hochuli. Cutler was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Much like Chad Ochocinco’s $1 facetious bribe the same day, this is the standard first-offense fine for “verbal or other non-physical offense against [an] official.”
• Also in the Bears–Cardinals game, the Bears defensive lineman Tommie Harris, who was ejected on the third play of the game for what Hochuli described as “slugging” another player, was fined $7,500 (video at 0:19).  Because the Bears played a Thursday night game, the fines were not announced until after their Week 10 game.
• Finally, in a case of swift justice, Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 for obscene gestures launched from his luxury box towards the Bills sideline—or $125,000 for each finger. The incident happened at the end of Sunday’s game, with the fine being announced Monday morning. There was little dispute in the matter, as his double-barrelled salute was uploaded to YouTube.