Dean Blandino, NFL vice president of officiating, released this week’s media tape regarding rules calls mostly from Week 4 (150 MB download). This week’s topics:
- When defenseless protections end. The play in question was a legal hit on Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, correctly called (SJ 67 Doug Rosenbaum, BJ 93 Scott Helverson), because Johnson’s defenseless posture ends when he becomes a runner.
- Taunting. Bills running back Fred Jackson tosses the ball at a Browns player on the sideline, which was a taunting foul (LJ 101 Carl Johnson).
- Both feet in bounds. A catch by Bills tight end Scott Chandler was initially ruled complete (SJ 56 Allen Baynes, HL 134 Ed Camp), but a replay review showed that Chandler’s second foot did not touch the ground, instead it touched his other foot.
- Fumbles out of bounds. Under two minutes in the half, the clock stops but then restarts when the referee signals ready for play. There were two instances of this — in the Cardinals-Buccaneers game (HL 106 Wayne Mackie) and the Seahawks-Texans game (LJ 130 Darryll Lewis) — although there was also an injury timeout on the Texans fumble.
- Fair catch kick. Blandino explains the mechanics of this play that you will likely not see again until 2018. The angle shown in the video is the all-22 angle that was not on the broadcast (Jeff Triplette’s crew).
