re: so someone explain why AP's fumble wasn't a fumble

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If he did not have control, how in the hell he had possesion?

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The ball was in his hand and had been since he'd been handed it by Gus. The ball was in his possession (hand) when his knee went down. Even though the hit that caused the ball to come loose had been delivered, AP still had possession. A ball doesn't leave the runner's hand at the instant he or the ball is hit by another player. There is an amount of time between the beginning of the hit and when the ball comes loose that, though the player has lost control of where the ball is going, it is still in his possession. It's nanoseconds, but there still is that amount of time. That is when AP's knee hit the ground, says Hochuli. It was the right call.

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No control=no possesion.

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Control =/= Possession.

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The ball came loose before his knee touch,

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Knee down, ball still in hand. On the way out, but still in hand. Tough call, tough break for the Saints.

it clearly was a fumble

but Hochuli said something to the effect that althought he lost the ball before going down he momentarily regained control of the ball in the tips of his fingers as the knee hit the ground and the ball continued...er...em...began moving again towards the ground.

That's the way the refs are trained to do it now. They are supposed to wait and make sure that there is no doubt that the play is over before blowing the whistle. That's exactly what happened in the Chargers game. Ed should have thought to himself "I think that was an incomplete pass, but since I'm not 100% sure, I'm not going to blow the whistle, let the play go on, and then announce my ruling once the play is definitely dead."

So the refs actually did the right thing if in fact the whistle did not blow. I thought watching it on TV that the whistle did blow when AP went down, but I could be wrong. If the whistle did blow, I think the call can still be overturned if there was a clear immediate recovery by the other team...that's where it starts to get fuzzy.

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FWIW, I was watching the game at Bar None in New York, which serves, coincidentally, as the Saints bar as well as the Vikings bar, and there was a fair mix from both sides of the fans as to what they thought.

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My best friend lives in NYC and was at that bar. How many Saints fans typically show up at this place?

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My best friend lives in NYC and was at that bar. How many Saints fans typically show up at this place?

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100-200...that's my guesstimation.

If a receiver must maintain control of the ball through the entirety of a catch in order to have possession, why shouldn't a running back have to maintain control of the ball until the end of the play in order to retain possession?

I hear what the ref was saying, it just sounds like bullshite.

he has big hands

I know I'm late as shite on this but I am looking fwd to the Raider game, so heres my rant on the AP fumble. While he was coming down, the ball began to move out of his POSSESSION, even though his hand was still on the ball. That does not matter, he lost control of it. If he had complete control of the ball then it would have never come out when his knee did hit the ground (make sense yet). Anytime a player begins to lose control of the ball before going down a.) its a fumble or b.) imcomplete pass.

Anyways, we got fubarred on a few plays but still screwed ourselves with all the damn false starts and costly offside penalties. We just need to play better and we will start winning, which will start Sunday vs. Raiders.

P.S. LSU is getting their asses whooped!!