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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.

The officiating crews for the Wild Card games on Jan. 8 and 9 have been announced by the NFL. Kickoff times are Eastern. (See our previous post on the process of qualification.)

Saints at Seahawks (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.)

• R — #65 Walt Coleman (22nd year, 16th year as referee)
• U — #121 Paul King (2nd year)
• HL — #98 Greg Bradley (2nd year)
• LJ — #84 Mark Steinkerchner (17th year)
• FJ — #43 Terry Brown (5th year)
• SJ — #72 Michael Banks (9th year)
• BJ — #12 Greg Steed (8th year)
• Alternates — #56 Allen Baynes (SJ), #2 Billy Smith (BJ)

Coleman will head Terry McAulay’s crew, likely because McAulay is scheduled to officiate a conference championship game. (This will not be confirmed by the league for another two weeks.)

McAulay’s crew officated the NFL Kickoff game when the Saints played the Vikings. Coleman was the referee for a Saints game in Week 7 and was in Seattle for a Seahawks game three weeks ago.

Steed officiated in last year’s Super Bowl. King and Bradley are officiating in their first year of postseason eligibility.

Zebra Blog coverage: $55K fines, but 0 yards, assessed for Ravens’ face-altering, concussing hits | Head ref tells ‘SNF’ crew it was helmet hit, but, please, there is no Steeler conspiracy

Jets at Colts (Saturday, 8 p.m.)

• R — #114 Gene Steratore (8th year, 5th year as referee)
• U — #40 Butch Hannah (12th year)
• HL — #91 Jerry Bergman (9th year)
• LJ — #107 Ron Marinucci (14th year)
• FJ — #88 Scott Steenson (20th year)
• SJ — #116 Mike Weatherford (9th year)
• BJ — #133 Steve Freeman (10th year)
• Alternates — #102 Bruice Stritesky (U), #109 Dyrol Prioleau (FJ)

Steratore’s crew officiated a Colts game in Week 11. Steratore was also referee for a wild card game in 2009.

Steenson and Freeman were on Jeff Triplette’s crew during the regular season and replace  Bob Waggoner at field judge and Dino Paganelli at back judge.

Zebra Blog coverage: Steelers get second chance after replay erases TD, but turnover never happened | Ravens coach fined $15K for ref bump | Lions victimized by ‘process of catch’ rule, but they wasn’t robbed

Ravens at Chiefs (Sunday, 1 p.m.)

• R — #94 Mike Carey (21st year, 16th year as referee)
• U — #49 Rich Hall (7th year)
• HL — #8 Dana McKenzie (3rd year)
• LJ — #47 Tim Podraza (3rd year)
• FJ — #82 Buddy Horton (12th year)
• SJ — #15 Rick Patterson (15th year)
• BJ — #6 Dirk Dornan (17th year)
• Alternates — #115 Tony Michalek (U), #30 Todd Prukop (BJ)

Carey’s crew officiated a Week 10 game with the Chiefs.

Patterson officiated on Walt Coleman’s crew during the regular season, replacing side judge Laird Hayes.

Packers at Eagles (Sunday, 4:30 p.m.)

• R — #135 Pete Morelli (14th year, 8th year as referee)
• U — #71  Ruben Fowler (5th year)
• HL — #36 Tony Veteri (19th year)
• LJ — #35 John Hussey (9th year)
• FJ — #89 Jon Lucivansky (2nd year)
• SJ — #39 Don Carlsen (22nd year)
• BJ — #75 Rob Vernatchi (7th year)
• Alternates —#45 Jeff Seeman (LJ), #119 Greg Wilson (BJ)

Morelli’s crew officiated a Week 12 game with the Packers. In 2009, Morelli was the referee for the NFC Conference Championship game and Vernatchi — who switched to back judge this year — officiated Super Bowl XLIV as a field judge. (Seeman, an alternate, also served as line judge in Super Bowl XLIV.)

Veteri was on Clete Blakeman’s crew during the regular season, replacing head linesman George Hayward.

Lucivansky is officiating in his first year of postseason eligibility.

Zebra Blog coverage: Morelli crew gives Steelers 9-yd 1st down | Hochuli, Triplette, Corrente flag most; Green, Morelli, Riverón under 11 per game

Week 4: Chargers at Steelers

In the Sunday Night Football game, the Chargers special teams player Jacob Hester is credited with a heads-up, 41-yard fumble-return touchdown. However, it is confusing how the Steelers punt returner Steve Logan was driven back three yards in control of the ball without being ruled down by forward progress.

The video of the play shows clearly that Logan achieved the 44-yard line, with the fumble occurring at the 41.

The covering official was back judge Steve Freeman, who marked the point of recovery with his beanbag. The field judge, Boris Cheek, was covering the sideline at the 25 (you will see his hat marking that a player stepped out of bounds), so he was in no position to judge forward progress.

There was a coach’s challenge, but forward progress could not have been overturned on replay.

Week 2: Texans at Titans

I knew once I saw the video of Jacoby Jones’s touchdown catch for the Texans that this would need explaining. It did not take long before and comment came in linking it to the Raiders’ overturned touchdown last week. (By the way, I vow that this is the last time that we will mention the Raider reversal—it has been thoroughly beaten to death.)

If you haven’t seen the play from the Texans game, here’s the video.

As we wrote last week, if a receiver is going to the ground, the receiver must maintain possession through to the ground. In the case of the Raiders touchdown, receiver Louis Murphy caught the ball, got two feet down, his butt landed in the end zone and then his torso landed. At that point the ball squirted out and touched the turf. By the rules, that is an incomplete pass, as the receiver did not maintain possession down to the ground.

As for the Texans touchdown, Jacoby Jones caught the ball falling to the ground. He bounced off of Cortland Finnegan of the Titans on his way to the ground. Finnegan then pulled Jones back down to the turf where Jones dropped the ball on the ground. The Raider Nation was looking for vindication: surely, this will be overturned on review.

Except the fact that the two plays are not the same.

When Jones lands on the opponent, he has gone to the ground, because the next thing that happens is that he gets pulled back up by Finnegan. Since Jones landed once, there is no requirement for him to land again on the ground. (Keep in mind, this is completely separate than the down-by-contact rule which says that the ball carrier is not down if he is on top of an opponent.) Had Finnegan not slightly lifted Jones, there might have been a case for a reversal.

In the Raiders situation, Murphy goes to the ground, first by his rear, and then continues downward. His rear contacting the ground is not enough (again, we are not applying the down-by-contact rules), as he was still going down to the ground.

I will admit it was a borderline call, but ultimately the right call. It was upheld on replay. Walt Coleman was the referee, Bill Spyksma was the replay official; as best I can tell, back judge Steve Freeman was covering on the play.