1st Quarter | 8:24 remaining | no score | Texans ball | 3rd & 7 @ ATL 14 | video

Well, this one is weird, to say the least.

Texans quarterback T.J. Yates throws an apparent incomplete pass while he is being hit. As the ball rolls without a whistle being blown, Falcons safety James Sanders astutely grabs the ball and runs 90 yards for a touchdown. Since the play was not ruled dead, Sanders correctly played it as a fumble, not an incompletion.

The matter of the touchdown became moot, because players from both benches began to enter the field, believing the play to be over. This resulted in offsetting illegal substitution penalties, but the fumble still counted. The ball was returned to the spot when the fouls occurred, at the Falcons’ 35-yard line.

Because of the penalty, the touchdown came off the board, and thus the rule that all scoring plays are subject to video review did not apply. Houston had to use a coach’s challenge in order to have the play reviewed.

Referee Bill Leavy ruled that the play was confirmed, even though it seemed to be a forward-throwing motion. I had to replay this several times, and there was no clear evidence that the pass preceded the hit. Yes, Yates’ arm was going forward, but if it is coincidental with a defensive tackle, then it becomes a forced fumble, not a forward pass.

I would have ruled it a pass, but I can see that there is not enough passing motion visible to rule so on a replay. Also, keep in mind that Leavy has 60 seconds to review the play, so there are only so many shuttles of the tape that can be done in that time, while also reviewing all other aspects of the full play.

Incidentally, the Falcons were intercepted three plays later. The Texans kicked a field goal; if there was a replay reversal, it would have been fourth down, and presumably it would have also resulted in a field goal.

What is your opinion? Should the play have been reversed to an incomplete pass?

Giants at Cardinals

Victor Cruz’s catch has become its own post.

Jerome Boger’s crew had a simultaneous timeout call from the Giants’ sideline and a coach’s challenge from the Cardinals sideline. (Fox Sports put the tape of the two coaches split screen—it would take a slo-mo replay to determine who was first.) The crew granted both requests, rather than returning the Giants timeout on account of the replay. Fox Sports sideline vagabond Tony Siragusa was able to get a very unusual in-game comment from umpire Carl Paganelli that the on-field ruling was the timeout call came first.

While the split screen only showed the coaches, there were also players on the Giants defensive line calling timeout as well. It is unclear if the officials called the timeout based on a player’s or the coach’s signal.

Steelers at Texans

The Texans had two touchdowns nullified. First, a blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown (video) had an obvious penalty for illegal block in the back. Clete Blakeman had the full explanation, including the fact that the half ends on the play without the quarter being extended. Then, in the fourth quarter, an interception return for a touchdown was wiped out by a late hit on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger by Texans J.J. Watt.

Saints at Jaguars

The EverBank Field grounds crew made a glaring error when painting the lines on the field, but ultimately one that would confuse viewers, not the officiating crew.

Each 10-yard increment (with the exception of the 50-yard line) is marked with an arrow pointing towards the nearest goal line. It is essentially for the benefit of television viewers to be able to discern which side of the field is on the screen.

However, the grounds crew placed a fourth of all the arrows pointing the wrong way. On the same yard line, the arrows on either side of the field pointed to opposite ends.

Great googily moogily!

Photo courtesy of Fox Sports Florida.

Since this is essentially news about the officials, we are listing these calls and non-calls from Week 1.

• As noted in this site’s discipline report, Giants safety Kenny Phillips was fined $10,000 for an unspecified play against the Redskins. Ron Winter’s crew missed a blow to the head by Phillips.
• Carl Cheffers’ crew penalized Cardinals cornerback Richard Marshall for unnecessary roughness on a shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Marshall revealed on Twitter (@TheMarshall31) that he would not be fined by the league office. The incorrect penalty, however, was costly, as it nullified the Cardinals interception on the play, and was followed by a Jaguars touchdown two plays later. There is no video of the play, but since the referee has coverage of the quarterback, it is likely that Cheffers, himself, threw the erroneous flag.
• Texans safety Danieal Manning was flagged for his hit on Colts receiver Pierre Garçon. The penalty was for a hit on a defenseless receiver, however an analysis by the Houston Chronicle (with video below) showed the hit was legal as Garçon’s head contacted Manning’s thigh. Manning was not fined. Walt Coleman’s crew officiated the game.

Video credit NFL/CBS Sports with commentary from Houston Chronicle.

After banging each other under the hood, the NFL opted to fine habitual offender Cortland Finnegan of the Titans and repeat offender Andre Johnson $25,000 each — the league minimum for a second offense . Neither player will sit out next week’s game as was widely speculated.

Last week, the NFL assessed the same fine on the Raiders’ Richard Seymour for his sucker punch on Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. This was a second offense for Seymour.

Finnegan was warned to watch his on-field roughness in Week 4 or that he would face a possible suspension. I suppose a suspension would be possible if Johnson’s detached head was still in the helmet when Finnegan threw it.

The league is sending a very clear message that this behavior will be lightly punished. Especially when the fine amounts to 5½ minutes of work.

Rarely do any fistfights in football inflict damage on the combatants. However, Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan and Texans receiver Andre Johnson found a way around that and had one of the most violent fights in the NFL in the color television era.

Undoubtedly the NFL will not provide the video link to it on their site, the only officially sanctioned source for video clips. We will post a link if we find one (or alert us to one in the comments). (Update: I owe the NFL a big apology. Here is the video.)

Both players yanked off each other’s helmets as they pummeled each other in an old-fashioned hockey-style fight. The officials, armed with just whistles and yellow flags, had little to do to break up the fight.

Finnegan is already on notice by the league; in Week 4 that he was notified that he faces possible suspension for any future on-field acts. The level of the battle is likely to have both players suspended anyway, so Finnegan might have an extremely rare multiple-game suspension for an on-field incident. Finnegan and Johnson were ejected from the game after the fourth-quarter incident.

Clete Blakeman was the referee and side judge Greg Meyer is shown giving Johnson the ejection signal immediately after the fight breaks.

The Titans and Texans met in Week 2 of 2009 with an ejection and fines being levied for fighting during that game.

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.

The NFL, prior to Thanksgiving, addressed a mini-controversy regarding a high-five gesture exchanged between Titans quarterback Vince Young and referee Jerome Boger (picture). Frankly, it was much ado about nothing, so I didn’t take time to post this until after the holiday.

There are several times where players have exchange pleasantries with the officials, and this does not compromise the objectivity of calling a fair game. In fact, we should see more of that to offset all of the arguing over calls.

The league has a perfectly logical explanation as to why it appeared that the two exchanged a high five, although I disagree with the “appearance of an inappropriate action” in their statement:

The signal for a dead ball (NFL rulebook)

It was not Jerome Boger’s intent to exchange a high five with the player. It began with the referee making the proper administrative signal and resulted in the appearance of an inappropriate action.

As Vince Young took a knee on the game’s final play, Jerome Boger jogged in with his right arm in the air to signify the play was over. That is the proper administrative signal for the referee.

As Young turned around, he saw Boger approaching the line of scrimmage with his arm raised. As Boger moved toward the line of scrimmage, he started to bring his arm down. However, before he lowered his arm, Young, moving towards the referee, raised his own arm and the two exchanged what appeared to be a quick high five.

Perhaps Boger should have penalized himself 15 yards for excessive celebration.

• In question was the spotting of the ball in the Cowboys–Eagles game on two different plays. In one case, a player going back for the ball is not awarded forward progress (correctly called), because he was not in contact with the defender, therefore not being pushed back. The second one regarded the fourth-down quarterback sneak by Donovan McNabb. Pereira notes that the center-field logo could be used as a demarcation point, and might have given the Eagles a few extra inches. Typically those few extra inches aren’t given during replay, but in this case, there was a clear placement with relation to an on-field mark. Pereira said the ball should have been moved.
• On a play in the game with the Steelers,  Brandon Marshall of the Broncos spikes the ball at the end of the play, and somehow avoids being penalized. Since he was out of bounds, he is not causing a delay in spotting the ball, therefore no delay of game penalty is administered.

The most complex play, perhaps of the entire season, involved a down-by-contact ruling at the 1-yard line in the Colts–Texans game (video). So complicating are the circumstances, that it becomes a list onto itself.

• Ryan Moats of the Texans clearly fumbled the ball prior to going to the ground.
• With the play dead at 2:25, the Texans opted to run the clock to the two-minute warning, giving the Colts’ coaching staff the entire break to review the play. The coach may challenge the final play prior to the two-minute warning up until the first legal snap after the two-minute warning.
• It is reasonably clear that Moats did not touch the ball after dropping it. Since his tackler was out of bounds while holding Moats, if Moats touched the ball, the ball would be out of bounds at that spot.
• Jerraud Powers of the Colts jumps back in bounds to retrieve the ball, but since he does not establish two feet in bounds, he makes the ball dead, and it is still Texans’ ball.
• However, since the ball is ruled out of bounds on the goal line by an offensive fumble, this becomes a touchback, and in this case, is awarded to the Colts’ at the 20-yard line.

Referee Jeff Triplette goes through a Hochulian effort to explain the call, taking about 40 seconds to describe:

After reviewing the play, the runner does fumble the football prior to being down by contact. The ball stays in bounds. The Indianapolis defender is out of bounds when the ball is laying the goal line, comes back in and, with one foot down, touches the football. Therefore, it is a fumble out of bounds in the end zone. It is a touchback. First and 10, Indianapolis, from the 20-yard line.

A lot of things to watch on that play, but one thing missing from Triplette’s description.

Please reset the game clock to 2:24.

Because the play was ruled dead at that point, the time had to be restored to the clock, even though the two-minute warning had already transpired. It is understandable with so much involved in that play, however once a decision is made, the replay official (in this case, Bob Boylston) and the referee must communicate the down, distance, yard line, and time remaining on all reversals. The time taken to determine the spot and the time remaining consistent with the reversal decision is outside of the referee’s 60-second replay review time.

This is the second time this season that Triplette and Boylston failed to relay this information correctly. We noted in Week 5, that a replay reversal failed to account for the correct spotting of the ball, one of several failure points on the same play. In addition, there are six other officials, one of whom should have confered with Triplette to restore the time consumed.

Tough call on the refs there, especially when they made a difficult decision correctly. But the sloppy bookkeeping on replay reversals must be fixed with this crew.

• 49ers defensive back Shawntae Spencer signaled incomplete on a pass that he broke up in the game against the Vikings. However, since he was over the prone receiver, it was deemed a 15-yard taunting foul.
• Texans receiver Kevin Walter, running a tight end-zone route, collided with a Jaguars defender. It appeared inadvertent, but it drew an offensive-pass-interference call. Pereira gave his wavering support for the call on the field, but in the subtext, it is probably going to be scored against the covering official’s grade. In this case, the covering official was field judge Jim Howey.
• Other noncontroversial offensive-pass-interference calls from the Falcons–Patriots (which nullified a Falcons touchdown) and Steelers–Bengals.

The bulk of the conversation between Pereira and NFL Net talking head Rich Eisen focused on a call for plane-of-goal cameras in every stadium to supplement the broadcast cameras. This started when a Texans go-ahead-touchdown attempt was thwarted by a goal-line fumble. Replay was inconclusive as to when the player was down, so the field call stood. (Bonus: Pereira showed the videotape of the replay assistant’s efforts from the referee’s field monitor perspective.)

When we watched Super Bowl XLIII, there were fixed camera positions on the goal line, as was evident from the coast-to-coast interception return by James Harrison (video). Primetime games and playoff games (and, to a lesser extent, the key afternoon matchups) have more camera angles than other standard regular season games. It’s just a built-in flaw in the system, just as much as a network television director making a choice of replay angles is. Replay is not supposed to be the fix-all. (Eisen went on to suggest a camera mounted on the pylon.)

Technology is always explored for improving the mechanics, such as using laser-sighting or GPS technology for measuring first downs. The gain, though, must be a part of the equation. Do you place a camera on the pylon for a goal-line play that happens once in a few weeks? There are eight pylons on the field and do you add cameras to similarly patrol the sideline and end line? And it would not have solved this situation, because the play was not the breaking of the plane of the goal, but the knee that is a yard or so back.

Inconclusive video is a perfectly acceptable call, especially since the coach had the discretion to throw the challenge flag in this instance.

The lower fine might be a result of the video of the game not clearly showing a punch being thrown. However, Jones clearly thrust himself into the situation and escalated it. The league’s Schedule of Fines lists “Unnecessarily Entering Fight Area (active involvement)” as a minimum of $5,000 on first offense, less than the $10,000 for fighting which would be assessed for a punch.

Update 9/25/09: The league is reporting two Texans were also fined. Jacoby Jones was fined $5,000 for entering a fight area as well. Andre Johnson, who was also flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, was fined $7,500 for pulling a player to the ground by the facemask. Neither was ejected from the game.