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Triplett needs to retire
Could you explain the rule in regards to the QB stepping out of bounds not being reviewable? For the Bills they tried to challenge Taylor stepping out of bounds on 3rd and 9 and it was deemed that it wasn’t reviewable, I’m just interested in the reasoning behind this. Thanks!
Thanks! Didn’t realize it was actually that the whistle had already been blown, the way Mike Carey was explaining it made it sound like it was a special scenario when the QB was called out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage and that you couldn’t review that, not just that the ball had already been whistled dead (though I will admit I was also multi tasking a wee bit, so I may not have fully understood him).
As far as the whistle, remember that the whistle only a SIGNAL that a dead ball has been declared (unless in the rare inadvertent whistle occurs). If a whistle is late, the dead ball reverts back to when it is ruled dead.
Can you have the crew doing the Viking game fired or demoted to college ball. They have made and missed more calls then hair on most peoples head. On the call with Bridgewater and the first down isn’t where the ball is when you hit or land out abounds? Not where the ball crosses out bounds?
Know they mark the forward progress as short on 4th and 7 then go the mid and call it a first down. How can you continue to make wrong calls?
Attention Ben,
I think Dana Mckenzie in my opinion should switch from the Head Linesman Position To the Line Judge position. I think it would be a better position for him to be and officiate in in the near future. What do you Think?
I have never seen a better replacement for my friend Line Judge Gary Arthur other than Dana Mckenzie himself, And i think that he is one of the best replacement line judges at best that i have seen in a year of watching the NFL Games on tv.
Sincerely
Nick D’Annunzio
Thanks for posting about the Browns-Titans delay of game penalty, Ben. Lots of unusual stuff happened there. Ultimately, the Titans greatly benefited from their own delay of game penalty here. This is very similar to the delay of game penalty in the Lions-Falcons game in London last year, where the Lions missed the go-ahead field goal as time expired, only to have it blown dead due to delay of game, and then they made the field goal on their second try.
My understanding is that the back judge is responsible for watching the play clock hit 0, and then looking down to see if the play started, and that there’s a bit of a lag when this happens. They technically got the call right, because the clock did hit 0, but that one was very close. I’ve seen many other times where there’s been a larger gap, and there was no flag thrown.
But anyway, my understanding is that when this happens, it blows the play dead immediately. That’s ultimately what they ruled on the field, once it was all said and done. But if you were to challenge the ruling that the ruling was made immediately when the clock hit 0, you would have no conclusive evidence to support it. You don’t hear any whistles or see any flags thrown in that video, and the rest of the officials treat it as a normal play, throwing the bean bag and signaling that it’s Cleveland’s football after the fumble. The Cleveland defender almost broke that tackle, and returned that fumble for a TD, which would have made this ruling even more controversial.
Ironically, there was a very similar scenario that happened in Cleveland in 2001, in a game against Jacksonville. Cleveland had no timeouts with under 2 minutes left, and they converted a 4th down pass, and then spiked the ball to stop the clock. Then the officials said that they were reviewing the play, and they overturned the 4th down pass, even though another play had been run. They claimed that replay buzzed before the spike, but replays clearly showed that the refs did not blow the play dead before the ball was spiked. The pass was reversed to incomplete, and the ball was given to Jacksonville, essentially ending the game and the Browns playoff chances. Fans were furious about this, and ended up throwing thousands of beer bottles at the referees, which caused them to call off the rest of the game.
And the referee for that game, was none other than Terry McAulay, the same ref involved in the delay of game play here. You can’t make this stuff up!
P.S. That post has some formatting errors with the video link
The fact that there appears to be nobody on the field indicating a delay of game, that may be more evidence for your theory that the replay people upstairs might be influencing the officials on the field through the headsets.
On the packers Seahawks play with the offsides and PI on Sherman, the defender who was offsides caused the offensive linemen for the packers to move before the snap. This should have resulted in a neutral zone infraction with the officials blowing their whistle immediately.
In the Seahawks-Packers game, we had the play where two personal fouls by the Seahawks were offset by only one personal foul by the Packers. A Seahawk was also ejected on the play but how is it that 2 =1 in NFL math?
Rob – Rule 3-21-4, Item 2 states that “If the ball is in player possession when that player goes out of bounds, the out-of-bounds spot is the forward point of the ball when the ball crosses the side line.” Per this rule, the officials ruled correctly on this out-of-bounds spot as it relates to a runner crossing the sideline.
Vikings-Lions, on 4th and long the Lions down 16 points go for the first down, appear to be short, no one signals first down, the chains are not moved when Stafford rushes his players to the line, prompting the line judge to place the ball down and Detroit scores a touchdown on 5th and goal, they have a long discussion about the non-sense they let happen but decide to let the touch down stand. ridiculous
Techvet,
In most levels of football, offsetting fouls occur no matter how many are committed. The only exception is for dead ball fouls after the whistle. In theory, the defense could commit ten live ball infractions and the offense one, and they would still offset.
I am also wondering about the calls at the end of the Vikings game. The one official marked it short about 6″. The back judge came in and grabbed the ball and took it to the closest hash mark. The Umpire set it and the ref let them snap it. The chain markers were not even set and Stafford through an incomplete pass right before the 2 minute warning. That would have been 4th down….
It was crazy… keystone cop like. The one official dropped the ball… the one that made the original spot didn’t know what to do. After the play you could see a few officials talking and you could tell they were a total s-show.
The spotting on the field all day was bad… Three other times reviews showed something way different then what the officials called. One time the running back was rolling forward after he was down and they gave him 1st down (didn’t get reviewed) another time Rudolf was marked short on a clear first down (over turned on reply) and a third Bridgewater reached over 1st down marker and they got it wrong twice… once live and another on replay…
Also gave AP a td that was over turned upon review… It was a Eagle like showing for the Zebra’s in Minnesota on Sunday…
Are these replacements terrible or what?! Oh, wait these are the “professional, unionized, regular” officials. Silly me!
One of my favorite Quick Calls for Week 2
Seahawks at Packers
The Seahawks jump offside and then commit pass interference on the same play. We see how the wireless radio system works on the fly. Referee Gene Steratore opened is public address mic and announced, “There are two fouls on the defense. Offside number 72 that penalty is declined.†He then needed the number of the player who committed pass interference. He turned his PA mic off, and radioed field judge Mike Weatherford. You could read his lips, “Give me a number Mike.†An instant later he turned on his PA mic and announced, “Pass interference, defense number 25. Spot foul, automatic first down.â€
A cool moment as Steratore switched between communication devices.
Was there ever any clarification of the Lions play right before the two minute warning? It sure seemed like the officials should have taken the time to properly spot the ball and measure. Also, did Stafford have the ball snapped before the officials were ready?