Updates may be a little slow today, but check back here for coverage of the calls and rules interpretations of the Thanksgiving Day games.
Vikings at Lions
Referee Carl Cheffers also addressed an illegal formation foul to the pool reporter:
Q: Can you describe the illegal formation on Cordarrelle Patterson on the snap before the interception?
Cheffers: The player that we called for an illegal formation was not on the line of scrimmage. We ruled that he was not on the line of scrimmage; he was not breaking [the plane of] the waistline of the snapper. Therefore, he left the tackle on that end of the line uncovered. We also had only had 6 players on the line of scrimmage. By rule, that’s an illegal formation.
Vikings at Lions (video)
It was a pivotal call on a play full of pivot points. In the final minute of the game with the score tied, Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford was intercepted in Vikings territory by Darius Slay. As he is being tackled, Slay fumbles the ball, which is recovered by the Vikings. Slay was immediately ruled down by contact, which prevents the fumble from occuring.
This was reviewed by the replay official to see if a stop-down review was necessary. Referee Carl Cheffers got the signal from replay official Charles Stewart that the down-by-contact ruling was confirmed.
Cheffers addressed the call to a pool reporter after the game:
The ruling on the field was that we had an interception, and the intercepting player was down by contact. That’s what the ruling on the field was. The ruling official gave the signal indicating that the player was down by contact. So that play naturally goes to review. It’s an automatic review because it’s inside of two minutes, and it’s also a change of possession. It went to review. The replay official confirmed the ruling on the field — without the need to stop the game — that his right knee was down prior to any loss of possession. Therefore, the ruling on the field was confirmed, and we marked the ball ready for play.
Additionally, SVP/officiating Dean Blandino addressed the call in a video released on Twitter:
Further explanation on replay review process from #MINvsDET #NFLThanksgiving pic.twitter.com/aZgKarhtiA
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) November 24, 2016
Steelers at Colts
| Yrs | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 65 | Walt Coleman | 28 | Arkansas | manager dairy processor |
| U | 44 | Jeff Rice | 22 | Northwestern | attorney |
| HL | 74 | Derick Bowers | 14 | East Central | sales representative |
| LJ | 16 | Kevin Codey | 2 | Western New England | middle school physical education teacher |
| FJ | 43 | Terry Brown | 11 | Tennessee | probation supervisor |
| SJ | 76 | Alan Eck | 1 | Bloomsburg State | tax manager |
| BJ | 111 | Terrence Miles | 9 | Arizona State | quality control manager |
- Replay official: Lou Nazzaro
Washington at Cowboys (video)
Craig Wrolstad’s crew was challenged this game as players from both teams trash talked and pushed and shoved. At one point, officials went to both benches during a TV timeout and told both sides to pipe down.
Washington at Dallas
| Yrs | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4 | Craig Wrolstad | 14 | Washington | athletic director |
| U | 31 | Barry Anderson | 10 | North Carolina State | builder/developer |
| HL | 28 | Mark Hittner | 20 | Pittsburg State | investment broker |
| LJ | 10 | Julian Mapp | 8 | Grambling State | software QA tester |
| FJ | 33 | Steve Zimmer | 20 | Hofstra | attorney |
| SJ | 21 | Jeff Lamberth | 15 | Texas A&M | attorney |
| BJ | 27 | Lee Dyer | 14 | Tennessee-Chattanooga | sales manager |
- Replay official: Larry Nemmers
Vikings at Lions
When a Vikings defensive end jumped offsides, Matthew Stafford was visibly upset that he did not get a “free play”. The line of scrimmage official shut it down correctly. The rule regarding neutral zone infractions states that when a defender is parallel to or beyond an offensive lineman, with an unimpeded path to the quarterback, the play is to be killed.
Vikings at Lions (video)
Two Vikings’ turnovers are negated—one via replay and one via penalty. The Stafford pass-fumble replay was pretty cut-and-dried. A Lions’ interception was negated by a pass interference penalty. On video the DPI looks marginal, but another angle (not shown here) indicated a jersey tug, thus a good call.
Vikings at Lions
Before the end of the half, the clock did not stop when a Lions receiver went out of bounds. By rule, his forward progress was stopped in bounds before he went out of bounds. The forward progress wind was correct.
Detroit head coach Jim Caldwell reviewed a defensive pass interference called against the Lions, anticipating that a defensive lineman tipped the pass prior to contact. Touching of a pass is reviewable in replay, and referee Carl Cheffers concluded that lineman A’Shawn Robinson tipped the ball before the interference, nullifying the foul called against linebacker Tahir Whitehead.
Vikings at Lions
A nice tradition continues on CBS. Referee Carl Cheffers posed with the crew and wished the TV audience a happy Thanksgiving. The cameras then isolated on each official as they were preparing for the next play. A nice moment for TV to give the crew some love.
Vikings at Lions
A Vikings pass play was ruled a fumble after quarterback Sam Bradford was hit and appeared to fumble with the Lions recovering. A subsequent review determined the play was incomplete as video showed the arm and hand was going forward and Bradford had control through the throwing motion. Call on the field was reversed to incomplete.
If you happen to see footage of the Phil Luckett coin toss today, know that he acted properlyand ignore any snarky comments.
Vikings at Lions
| Yrs | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 51 | Carl Cheffers | 17 | California-Irvine | sales manager |
| U | 71 | Ruben Fowler | 11 | Huston-Tillotson | retired firefighter |
| HL | 79 | Kent Payne | 13 | Nebraska Wesleyan | teacher |
| LJ | 47 | Tim Podraza | 9 | Nebraska | corporate real estate |
| FJ | 88 | Brad Freeman | 3 | Mississippi State | sports park director |
| SJ | 1 | Scott Novak | 3 | Phoenix | sales manager |
| BJ | 63 | Jim Quirk | 7 | Middlebury | financial advisor |
- Replay official: Charles Stewart
Defensive pass interference, my a&&!
Some of the worst back judge 8n the history of the NFL. Don’t let this guy ever officiate again 3 bad calls in 1st half alone.
Picked up DPI was more the U’s failure to see the tip. B went straight to U after the play to get his input. Downgrade should go to U.
Find some new referees these guys are making more bad calls than in the Texans game. NFL big money on these games time to get the officiating correct these part timers are terrible.
If that was PI on the lions in the first quarter, then the refs missed about 100 PI calls last weekend.
Why the flag for the onside kick at the end of Dallas/Washington game? Dallas player touched the ball before it went out of bounds.
Down by contact at the end of Vikings loss, was horrible, every other turnover gets fully reviewed, but no since the Lions are at home on national TV, one replay official says correct call, if he would have looked at another view, the lions guys knee was not down, should have been Vikings ball and go into overtime. The officiating is awful, that play should have been reviewed for as long as it needed, because it affected the outcome of the game. why should the Vikings have to beat the Lions and the referees!
Tim,
You might want to read the post before you rant in the comments. Dean Blandino’s tweet is shown which points out the replay booth reviewed the play and could see the call was correct. The referee only looks at the call if the booth cannot confirm the call on the field. In this case, the attached video clearly shows the Lions player with his knee down with the ball in hand.