Week 4: Ravens at Patriots
As we had expressed earlier, none of the Baltimore Ravens (most vocally, Ray Lewis) were fined for postgame commentary on the Patriots game. Since, again, the frustration was with the rules and not the officiating, I think it was wise for the league to not assess a monetary penalty in this situation.
Also of note from the game, which I caught on an NFL Network replay, was that Ravens coach John Harbaugh was assessed a rare sideline unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for comments he directed towards an official during the game.
So in the Murphy touchdown catch you state, “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”.
Then you state in Replay turns incompletion into Jags TD, “Keep in mind that a player, once the receiver lands solid to the ground, the process of the catch is finished”.
Wouldn’t you say you are either on the ground or you are not? Is there such thing as “Sorta on the ground”? Just admit, they blew the call Ben. Much like this weeks blown call against Murphy ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cphh5XUQgOc ). Is clearly shows his foot dragging the ground so why was he instructed to reverse the call?