2016 AFC Wild Card Playoff
Follow us here for rolling coverage of the calls and rules interpretations of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game from Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
If you have any questions or comments, use the comments section of this post, or tweet us @footballzebras.
Today’s crew is headed by Craig Wrolstad.
| Yrs | 2016 crew | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 4 | Craig Wrolstad | 14 | Washington | athletic director | |
| U | 31 | Barry Anderson | 10 | Wrolstad | North Carolina State | builder/developer |
| HL | 91 | Jerry Bergman | 15 | McAulay | Robert Morris | sales executive |
| LJ | 101 | Carl Johnson | 13 | Morelli | Nicholls State | full-time official |
| FJ | 15 | Rick Patterson | 21 | McAulay | Wofford | banker |
| SJ | 120 | Jonah Monroe | 2 | McAulay | Arkansas | systems engineer |
| BJ | 119 | Greg Wilson | 9 | Anderson | USC | law enforcement |
- Replay: Larry Nemmers
- Alternates: Jeff Triplette (R), Gary Arthur (LJ), Jabir Walker (FJ)
Thought Pittsburgh got away with a foul on the incomplete pass just before Miami FG
Guess who is supposed to win. Not surprised about non-call.
W these referees are the worst group of referees in one year I’ve ever seen assembled ridiculous one way one cheap shot hitting son of a b******.. He blatantly went in with the intent to disengage his head from his neck are you kidding me
No excuse for an offset there. Egregious hit on QB with helmet should not be offset by a mild push after the fact. 1st and 25 is not equitable here. What happened to emphasis on not offsetting fouls and getting the first guy? LJ Carl Johnson with an overreaction again, just like he had in the Eagles Giants game in week 16. They should have handled this like Markbreit handled the Martin stuff of McMahon in ’86 GB-CHI game.
Understand it is not technically an offset and both are enforced, but the larger point remains–this is not an equitable resolution.
Same hit like that on Rothelisberger will get you ejected. This is what’s wrong with the NFL and their few premadonna teams.
While there was contact on that DPI, Pittsburgh did far worse right before Miami’s first FG and the same official didn’t flag it
It’s Pittsburgh….they always get away with penalties in the playoffs
Wrolstad is in over his head.
Larry Nemmers should be on the field and Wrolstad in the replay booth.
They missed the first time Dupree hit Moore under the chin in the first quarter. I thought it was a late hit at the least.
Is it going to take the death of a player on the field to get the NFL and the officials to do something about players leading with their helmet and hitting other players in the head? Concussions are bad enough but Dupree could have broken Moores neck with a hit like that. These players are too big and too fast (physics F=MA). The NHL was facing a similar problem with the size and speed of their players and hits to the head and they did something to address it. The solution is not (and can not, in either sport) perfect but the NHL is at least trying to make a concerted, and consistent emphasis, by the officials and the league, to really penalize these players who take deliberate (or even, accidental) shots to other players heads. The game officials, followed by the league review of the hit, hand out major penalties, ejections from the game, multiple game suspensions and significant fines. Repeat offenders have been suspended from the game for almost an entire season. The Steelers have a history of this kind of play (last years playoff game with the Bengals being a recent and prime example). If the NFL wants to get serious about this kind of thing, before a player is killed, then Dupree should have been given the equivalent of a ten minute major penalty in hockey, the Steelers have to play the next ten minutes of the game short one player on both sides of the ball. 10 vs. 11 for ten minutes. Dupree should also have been ejected from the game. The same day, or the next at the latest, the NFL then publishes a video recap of the hit, describing why it was egregious and worthy of such a stiff penalty. Then the NFL should announce how many games Dupree will be suspended. For his first offense – mandatory 1-3 games. Multiple offenses being longer suspensions and more games. The NFL also announces how much Dupree is fined, and how much the team is fined. The players, and the coaches, will very quickly learn to “coach up” these players to stop lowering their heads and launching themselves and their helmets into the head of the opposing players. If the NFL wants “heads up” tackling, then get serious about it, before somebody gets killed.