re: What Did Kenny Vacarro Do?

They play off b/c they cant cover shite down the field. Smith proved that. Our cover looked like he was trying to catch a baby falling out of a 10 story window.

Smith was the aggressor, bullshite call.

Also, Gruden was nauseating, he was swinging from Smith's nuts all night. He even praised him for his actions against Vacarro said "what a competitor".

I'm a football official for high school, college, and semi-pro (which uses NFL rules). Here are my thoughts.

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The early Will Hill call

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Was the right call, but it was pretty ticky tacky. It was barely there. I wouldn't have called it.

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that completely terrible "reception" call (he bobbled it the entire time),

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If their reasoning is that he regained possession from the DB before going out of bounds, that's a bad call. Once he regained possession, he was already out. The only thing I can think of is they decided simultaneous possession. Both players had equal possession of the ball while they were in bounds before the ball came loose and the WR regained possession. This would make it a catch and fumble going out of bounds (but there was no bean bag to mark the spot of the fumble). Simultaneous possession goes to the offense.

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the brutally bad roughing the passer call

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By rule, that was roughing the passer. Right call, bad rule.


Also, nobody has mentioned the inadvertent whistle they had on Ingram's first fumble (the one that was overturned and the Saints kept the ball). After he appeared to go down, but before anyone gained possession of the fumble, at least one official blew his whistle.

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The call on the field was a reception. The officials must not have seen enough evidence to overturn the call that's why the official said the call stands.

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Good point. And that's possible. But I thought there was enough video evidence to overturn.

As a fan, I'm glad the call went the way it did. As an official, I'm not sure I agree with what they called.

Also, I agree that there was a very shaky officiating crew out there last night. One thing that jumped out at me was the Side Judge on the Lewis DPI call. He was already signalling incomplete pass when the Back Judge threw his flag for DPI. The SJ stopped mid signal to throw his flag. Most blatant "me too" flag I've ever seen.

I don't know how you can argue the roughing the passer was a bad call.
It may be a bad rule, but it's exactly what they're looking for these days.

I'd love to see smith get rocked going across the middle. That dude is such a punk.

They finally put the game up on Rewind

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The early Will Hill call

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Weak call? Probably. Was the call incorrect or wrong? Absolutely not. He initiated contact with Graham's facemask and forced it upwards. That gets called a good bit.

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that completely terrible "reception" call (he bobbled it the entire time),

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Definitely shouldn't be described as "completely terrible". There certainly isn't indisputable evidence to show that he didn't have control of the ball (required to overturn it) since the defender blocked the view of the ball as his leg was hitting out of bounds from 1 angle, and Stills rolls around on the other, and it looks like he has possession from the original press box angle.

From the angle coming from the LOS, it looks like he has control, but then he rolls covering the ball as he goes out of bounds, so you can't tell if he has control or not. There isn't anything to disprove the call though. Also, since he lost control in the process of going to the ground, possession occurs as soon as he regains control even if he can't maintain it. It is a part of the rule

Hands over the ball with an elbow inbounds as he lands out.

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the brutally bad roughing the passer call are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

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That may have been the easiest call to make this year. 2 yards away when the ball was released which makes it a penalty. A blow to the head/neck area (right in the chin here) which makes it a penalty, and the initial contact was a launching motion with his helmet making the initial contact. Violated 3 separate parts of the rule.

The False Start on Armstead was also a blown call, but they always call that BS that way. He doesn't simulate a snap in anyway.

The holding on the PT run was ticky tack, but I can see it getting called (Baltimore had 0 called in the game). Set up the pick 6

The officiating crew was just terrible. There is no excuse for blowing that PI call. The 2nd ref who through the flag did it after waiving incomplete too. You should be able to challenge that. Perfect coverage and their feet hit. Also should have been intentional grounding on the next play. He threw the ball about 40 feet away from his player near the LOS, 10 yards downfield, and a few yards out of bounds to avoid a sack.

I was at the game and it was hard to tell.

But, the other play that looked like a bad call and was important was the false start on the first drive.

Was that a bad call?

He didn't do enough, which bugs me because I don't like smith.

Wish someone would Kyle Turley him.