I don't know. Below is an explanation of the call by Dean Blandino, NFL Head of Officiating. It seems that this call is different from the PI non-call in the Cowboys-Lions game. In the latter, the NFL acknowledged that the call (picking up the flag after PI had been called) was an error; so we know that the NFL will admit to officiating mistakes. The present case is different in that respect, in that Blandino (and also the ex-NFL ref the broadcast crew who was asked about it at the time) is clear that the correct call was made. It all goes back to the Calvin Johnson catch in the end zone several years ago now that was ruled a non-catch for the same reason--the ball has to remain in complete control all through the act of catching, including when the receiver hits the ground. Any movement in the ball from hitting the ground renders it an incompletion. So, I think that yesterday's call was consistent with the rule. Of course, one could argue that the rule and the definition of a catch need changing. Here's Blandino's brief explanation:Sir Purrcival wrote:That call against the Cowboys was bunk. I don't like the Cowboys but I have to question how many steps does one have to take with the ball before it ceases to be an incomplete rather than a fumble?
He took 3 steps, had the ball under control during those three steps and then reaches for the goal line. If he had been one inch farther and had broke the plane, would the play then have been a touchdown rather than an incomplete? Also, at what point is a player considered down. If you look at the replay, you can clearly see that the players elbow (the one not holding the ball) was in contact with the ground prior to the ball making contact with the turf. Is that not down by contact? As I said, I don't like the Cowboys so I don't have any bitterness about them losing but even I have to think that was a botched call. The rule as it is written could be interpreted in the same way if the receiver had taken 20 steps. It is still part of the continuity of the play if he takes 3, 4, 5 or 30 steps and then loses the ball. Is that then incomplete? I guess it just shows that the rule is way too open to interpretation and that the CFL is not the only league that gets plagued with bad calls from time to time. Isn't the NFL the league that always gets referenced as to how superior the officiating is when there is some controversy in the CFL? Well for 2 weeks in a row, we have seen some bad, bad calls against teams at critical times in games; possible game changing calls so I think that the myth of the NFL being the best officiated league has taken a beating lately.
Blandino stands by overturning Dez Bryant catch
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 12, 2015, 12:36 PM EST
NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino says he and referee Gene Steratore made the right call when they overturned an apparent Dez Bryant catch on Sunday.
Blandino said the rules in the NFL are clear about players going to the ground as they make a catch, and the rules were properly applied on Sunday.
“Is Bryant going to the ground to make the catch?” Blandino said on PFT Live. “It’s clear. He’s stumbling. . . . Then we have to look to see, does the ball touch the ground? Which it clearly did, and it came loose after it touched the ground. . . . The last part which was discussed is did he make a football move? . . . Looking at it, he didn’t.”
Blandino said Bryant lunging forward toward the goal line is not the kind of overt act a player needs to make in order to be seen as making a “football move.”
“There’s judgment involved in all of these plays,” Blandino said. “We felt it was indisputable that’s not what Bryant did. He was just trying to gain control of it.”
Blandino did acknowledge one mistake that was made in conjunction with the play: Time should have been added to the clock after the replay review.
“There should have been time back on the clock because by rule when the pass is incomplete it stops the clock and some time did go off the clock before coach McCarthy challenged it,” Blandino said.
Although Blandino thinks it’s possible that the NFL will change its rules with respect to what constitutes a catch, he said the league worries about “unintended consequences” to reacting to one specific play. And so the NFL’s complex rules about catching a football may not be changing any time soon.
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Edit: Here's a piece on that play that I ran across from Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback (it's the second story in the piece):
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/12/nfl-playo ... etirement/
Bottom line: The rule was enforced correctly, but there's lots to dislike about the rule.
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Major housecleaning in Denver. (Courtesy of Pro Football Talk) Fox is out, along with maybe all the other coaches. Not to mention three receivers who will go to free agency this offseason and may sign elsewhere--the two Thomases and Wes Welker. It seems that there was the same friction between Fox and GM John Elway that we saw between Trent Baalke and Jim Harbaugh in SF.
Report: Broncos let entire coaching staff go
Posted by Mike Florio on January 12, 2015, 6:08 PM EST
Well, that escalated quickly.
According to Vic Lombardi of CBS 4 in Denver, the “mutual parting” between the Broncos and coach John Fox has been chased by the release of the entire coaching staff.
It was believed that defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was in trouble. Instead, everyone is gone.
That includes offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who currently is under consideration for multiple head-coaching jobs elsewhere. So if the Broncos, who know Gase better than anyone, have just fired him, why would anyone else hire him to be the head coach?
For quarterback Peyton Manning, the development points to an inevitable mutual parting, too. Peyton despises change and craves continuity. Unless he has a hand-picked alternative to Fox and Gase whom the Broncos will hire, it’s hard to imagine Peyton wanting to return.
UPDATE 6:10 p.m. ET: Per multiple other reports, all assistant coaches are under contract but free to look elsewhere. Which is a nice way of saying, “Pack up and hit the road.”
