Super Bowl XLVII
We will be live blogging the calls and rules interpretations from Super Bowl XLVII. (If you see continue reading below, click it to see the entire feed.)
If you have any questions or comments, use the comments section of this post, or tweet us @footballzebras.
Today’s crew is headed by Jerome Boger. The full crew list is at the bottom of this post.
My coverage of his assignment notwithstanding, Jerome Boger headed two solid playoff games this year. It was a great accomplishment for him. Boger held together quite a great game despite several obstacles: an extra-long halftime, a half-hour delay that had to be draining, and scrapiness from both sides of the ball.
I thought that Ravens cornerback Cary Williams should have been ejected for shoving head linesman Steve Stelljes. Players have been tossed for far less. Of course, this evokes the way that Panthers quarterback Cam Newton got a free pass from Jerome Boger when Boger was bumped by Newton. Newton was not ejected, and an official I talked to said this was no question supposed to be an ejection. (This is one of the eight dings that appeared on Boger’s record that disappeared.)
In the Super Bowl, it was not Boger’s decision to eject or not eject because he was not a witness to the shove. The rulebook says very clearly that an official must witness the entire offense to rule on the ejection.
As far as I know, no player has been ejected from the Super Bowl.
There appeared to be a non-call for taunting on Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin. I can see letting that go, but the pot was starting to bubble under the lid.
The holding/defensive pass interference non-call was a good call. When a receiver runs a route right at a defensive back and bumps him, there is an acceptable amount of holding that does happen, because the receiver initiated the holding. In this case, there was mutual pushing, so it all waves off. There needed to be a more egregious restriction of the receiver in order to draw a foul.
Together, it was an even-called game. The points of disagreement were true judgement calls; there wasn’t anything that really moved out of a gray area throughout the game.
And so begins the offseason. As Jerome Boger would say, “Let’s go.”
Field judge Craig Wrolstad showed unconventional mechanics on the Frank Gore 33-yard run late in the fourth quarter (video). On a play like that, Wrolstad should have retreated toward the goal line to rule on a potential touchdown. Line judge Byron Boston was responsible for the out of bounds spot all the way down the sideline. Why was Wrolstad coming toward the play instead of retreating? If you look closely, a Ravens and 49ers player had locked up in a block and both went out of bounds still engaged. My best guess is that Wrolstad thought the play wasn’t going to go for 33-yards and he was going to go out of bounds to make sure those two blockers didn’t start a fight in the midst of the team bench, while Boston got the forward progress spot.
Boger’s crew had a very good game. He was thrown a monkey wrench with the blackout, and his “let’s go” call to resume play was a nice added touch. Darrell Jenkins had a very quiet night; I don’t think he even threw a flag. Stelljes and Boston worked a very good game and had really tough line of scrimmage calls. How would you like to have the Harbaugh brothers be in your ear all night? Larrew, Wrolstad, and Paganelli had some really close calls downfield, but it looks like they were all called correctly. My only real complaint in the game was early on when Larrew didn’t call a taunting foul that could have set to tone and knocked out the chippy play.
All in all, the crew called a very good game and all seven officials can be proud of their efforts.
So far, through three quarters, the officiating crew has done a very good job. The only complaint I have is the lack of flags for chippy play before the melee. But, in my opinion, all of the judgement calls have been correct.
3rd Qtr | 7:28. 49ers — Michael Crabtree 31 yard touchdown pass from Colin Kaepernick
3rd Qtr | 5:05. 49ers — Frank Gore 6 yard touchdown run
3rd Qtr | 3:14. 49ers — Akers 21 yard field goal.
Fourth quarter scoring summary will be unavailable due to server issues.
The Superdome had a power failure that began at 7:38 p.m. local time. A delay ensued until 8:08 p.m. local time.
3rd Qtr | 15:00. Ravens — Jacoby Jones 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.Ravens 28-3.
2nd Qtr | :00. 49ers — David Akers 27-yard field goal. Ravens 21-6.
2nd Qtr | 1:58. Ravens — Jacoby Jones 56-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco.Ravens 21-3.
In the melee after the Kaepernick interception, several officials were roughed up in the scrum. This is what happens when officials don’t flag chippy action after the whistle. It escalates and you get a fracas. Hopefully both teams will settle down.
Update: Video of incident.
2nd Qtr | 7:15. Ravens — Dennis Pitta 1-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco.Ravens 14-3.
1st Qtr. | 1:02. I understand that this is the Super Bowl and this is a high emotion game, but I would have preferred to see side judge Joe Larrew throw an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on Anquan Boldin after he taunted the 49ers defender after that long catch.
1st Qtr | 4:03. 49ers — David Akers 36-yard field goal. Ravens 7-3.
1st Qtr. | 10:42. Great job by back judge Dino Paganelli to hold his touchdown signal until the WR completed the catch, which included running into the goal post!
1st Qtr | 10:42. Ravens — Anquan Boldin 13-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco.Ravens 7-0.
1st Qtr 14:50. Good call right out of the chute for umpire Darrell Jenkins. Tight end was covered by a wideout on the line of scrimmage which is an illegal formation foul.
| Yr. | Crew | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 23 | Jerome Boger | 9 | Morehouse College | commercial insurance underwriter | |
| U | 76 | Darrell Jenkins | 11 | Morelli | San Jose State | retired |
| HL | 22 | Steve Stelljes | 11 | Anderson | Friends | business planning manager |
| LJ | 18 | Byron Boston | 18 | Anderson | Austin | tax consultant |
| FJ | 4 | Craig Wrolstad | 10 | Hochuli | Washington | athletic director |
| SJ | 73 | Joe Larrew | 11 | Boger | St Louis | attorney |
| BJ | 105 | Dino Paganelli | 7 | Steratore | Aquinas College | educator |
First big call. Looks like they got it right on initial replay.
Should have had two ejections in the melee.
Wow. This is the best crew? Look like replacements. Botched the coin toss; Kruger lined up clearly in NZ on his sack in first qt which stopped 49ers drive (huge advantage gained by being a foot into NZ); Illegal contact by 49ers against Balt stopped Balt drive (might have been td pass but for the IC) but nonetheless wasn’t called; Covered up the IW on niners fumble – clearly heard the whistle from the mics; missed OPI on Balt receiver; and the most embarrassing the R pointing wrong direction on the roughing passer penalty against Balt. Unbelievable.
On the 109 yard kickoff return, two Ravens players were holding 49ers #49 for several seconds before the kick returner even passed by.
Hold tight…the OG is coming to the rescue again!!!
Game decided by the officials! Hate to see the game decided on the biggest stage by the refs. Clear PI, or at a minimum holding against Baltimore at the end of the game, lots of other calls bad both ways during the game, but that missed call at the end sealed the game, no chance for the receiver to get to the ball and decide the game on the field, we don’t know who would’ve won if that was called right, but we do know that those refs decided it!
On Gore’s (SF) long run to the left side at about 2:40 in the 4Q, I noticed that the Field Judge ran back up-field towards the LOS and LJ instead of getting to the goal line. Was there a reason for this? Is this an NFL mechanic?
Was there a Ravens facemask missed that spun the SF RB before the first fumble? I thought so. Was there an Ravens offensive pass interference missed on a relatively easy SF interception. Yes. Selective holding calls all game? Yes. The Lead Ref known for leniency chosen after his 8 in-season errors were overturned (a couple of overturns is a lot, but 8?)… The most penalized defense in the game? Seems like a recipe for inconsistency in defensive calls. No surprise that is what happened most of the game. I won my fantasy Survival Football league because I picked Baltimore (so this is not sour grapes by a SF fan) and SF coaching calls inside the red zone were poor at best, but as a football fan, I am disgusted with having the refs so involved in the outcome of the games all season.
My college white hat has a great saying…”Let the strongest team win”. Meaning let the team who wants it most win the game. I thought the crew was very consistent on their calls. They got the obvious one’s. I don’t think U had a single call all night–Nice job! Both teams Wide-Outs and DB’s played physical and Wings let them do so to a certain point–Nice job letting the players decide. Jerome did a nice job on managing both teams during the blackout. Few penalties called and the fans, players, coaches, as well as the officials like that–Nice Job guys!
There was blatant inconsistencies on the defensive holding.
SF got called on a 3rd and 9 for holding (I think Torrey Smith was the intended target), but it looked more like Smith was the one that pushed off with his right arm, clobbering the SF defender.
There was a non-PI call on Crabtree on a deep ball, the defender pulled or hooked his arm.
Holding on the kick-off return.
No holding/PI called on the 4th and 5 SF last drive.
No Ejections for #29 who was throwing punches AND bumped an official.
I could go on and on, it was very poor officiating, but SF still had a chance to win this game, they left 8 points out there (first quarter Kaep overthrew Crabtree while he was sitting on th goal line all alone, and late in the third quarter Davis was open on a corner route for a TD but Kaep threw a ball to Ginn Jr. that had no chance – both possessions ended up in FG’s).
I also question the play-calling on the last 4 SF possessions. They had no RB in the back field – at the very least, call the pistol formation so the D has to guess. The threw it all 4 times, which gave the Ravens a huge advantage.
Agree with the thought that this crew let it get away from them early. I understand its the Super Bowl but they had a bubbling pot that came close to boiling over into a grease fire. Ravens #29 played great but he was the number one stirrer.
Absolute missed hold on the Jones return. I recall seeing a hug on Kaepernick’s TD run, I think. I’ll have to check the replay this week.
I like what Dilfer said this morning about the non-call on the final SF play- it was a def. hold but don’t bail out a bad play by the offense.
Dilfer is a moron.
How was that a bad play? Crabtree would have had a good chance to catch that.
A bad play would have been an un-catchable throw – then I agree not to bail them out, but that was a no-brainer and should have been called.
By the way, I have to wait for the replay on NFL Network this week to check some of these calls. Apparently, I must not have set the DVR.
Generally, the officials stayed out, and what really jumped out at me were two continuing-action fouls that were not called, but not a mid-play objectionable call.
14:50 1st qtr, it might have been a good call but not sure why the umpire made it. He is doesn’t have a good view of who is on or off the line of scrimmage, wingmen’s call.
Somewhat surprised at the no holding flag on the safety. At least make Jimmy happy by dropping a flag, even if it has zero impact on the game. (it’s a safety for committing a penalty in the end zone, or a safety for him running out. Either way they’re not putting time back on the clock.)
I’ll have to look back at that, but I can support a no flag in that situation. As means of example: if on a series of laterals on the last play, one of them goes forward, but then very soon after it goes out of bounds, don’t flag the illegal forward pass.
If an official went to throw a flag on a holding call (which takes a second or two), and the punter is near the back of the end zone, going out of bounds, I can see the official holstering his flag and calling it a wash for “the pace of the game.”
Net result would always be a safety, and the penalty cannot carry forward to the free kick
Who ever said this was a well called game must not have been watching the same game. The refs blew so many calls as well as non calls. On the two point convention Baltimore was offsides not called. On the safety Baltimore held not called and on the Michael Crabtree end zone play he was held. Yes he pushed off because the corner was all over him. The refs should not cause the reason for the game to be given to Baltimore.
Was every Raven instructed to hold on the safety play? Why was holding not called? The hold on Dixon was particularly egregious. And it occurred right in front of Boger. But maybe this is a flaw in the rules. Holding in the end zone would have resulted in a safety, which is what the Ravens wanted anyway. Maybe the free kick would have been from the 10 instead of the 20. But there still would only have been 4 seconds left. Perhaps the rule ought to call for 10 seconds being added to the clock, as it is taken off the clock when the defense commits the penalty.
The Holding on the safety was probably intentional in that if they held/tackled the defensive rush, the kicker could allow MORE time off the clock, knowing that ultimately it would result in the same penalty – safety. I thought on first view the hold on the 4th and goal was PI/Hold, but after watching from the other angles, I thought a good no-call as both guys were guilty. And like Austro said, when the WR initiates contact, he loses some of his clout.
I am starting to think that the Ravens set the tone for the officiating when early in the first quarter #29 shoved one of the officials and did not get a game ejection.
Please, when does a player get away with that in the NFL. Does anyone recall Andre Reed getting ejected in a playoff game vs Miami when Doug Flutie was the Bills’ QB? Late 90’s, he got up after being tackled and chest-bumped an official in-inadvertently to dispute something but the official immediately threw the flag and ejected him.
These officials, next to the Seattle-Pittsburgh SuperBowl, were the worst that I have seen. From what I understand, neither of them had even worked a Conference Championship game, yet they are thrown in to the SuperBowl? What an absolute disgrace for the NFL for this sham.
Gene Seratore and Ed Hochili didn’t get a sniff in this year’s playoffs, yet they have a goon-squad group of clowns officiating a SuperBowl (and I am no fan of Hochili, believe me).
Interesting note I found out these refs that were doing the Super Bowl never even did a conference championship game ever what does that tell ya these refs according to the NFL Referee Association they are not qualified to do the Super Bowl the “FIX WAS IN”.
Flags where all one sided favor of the Ravens only 2 calls where made on the Ravens the whole game there name should be changed to the Baltimore Refs.
Put it this way if Ray Lewis can get away with Murder so can the Ravens.