Based solely upon the rules of an inadvertent whistle, it would appear that the Big 12 officiating crew ruled correctly in a sticky situation in the Belk Bowl. However, when replay rules are considered, the ball should have been awarded to Virginia Tech.
Week 7: Vikings at Giants (video) The Arkansas Association of High School Officials gets it. The NFL does not. If you are an official at any level, may I suggest you print this tweet, cut it out, and laminate it: 1. Clock status 2. Downs 3. Penalty enforcement 4. Whistle control 5. Counting players. All…
video 1 (streaming) | video 2 (streaming) | video 3 (222 MB download) Busy, busy Week 12 in officiating, so let’s look at what the officiating department is discussing for “Official Review.” NFL director of officiating and head of instant replay Dean Blandino has the calls: On Thanksgiving Day, the obvious missed call of Texans…
Saints at Falcons (video) This was a downright sloppy play by Scott Green’s crew on Thursday night no matter how you look at it, even though the final ruling on the play was correct. Falcons running back Michael Turner seemed to be stopped and then lost the ball. (This part is correct, even though it…
This season has seen three inadvertent whistles (IW) being blown by the officials, with the latest being this past week in the game between the Raiders and Bengals. NFL officials, and officials at all levels, have various tricks of the trade to avoid an IW, with some of the most basic being how they carry…
We are examining the video of the inadvertent whistle from the Raiders-Bengals game, and have confirmed that the line judge was responsible for terminating the play. Because the highlight video on NFL.com does not clearly illustrate the inadvertent whistle, we have the video the help of friend of the site, Timothy Burke of Mocksession (@bubbaprog), and…
Week 12: Raiders at Bengals (video at 2:50) On a 3rd-and-6, the Bengals completed a five-yard pass which was immediately fumbled near the sideline. The Raiders managed to keep the ball from going out of bounds by batting the ball in bounds. The Raiders then recovered the loose ball to return for a touchdown. Unfortunately,…
There is no worse feeling for a football official than when they blow a call. An official would rather be knocked over by Brian Urlacher at full speed than miss a call. And in officiating, the worst call one can make is to blow an inadvertent whistle. An inadvertent whistle (IW) is so egregious because…
Week 9: Panthers at Redskins (video) Another Redskins game where DeAngelo causes an officiating problem. No, DeAngelo Hall, the Redskins cornerback, did not raise another ruckus. Rather DeAngelo Williams, the Panthers running back, was given a touchdown, which should have been the call, while at the same time should not have been. Williams ran down…
