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First of all, I did not see the play so I cannot comment on the call's "correctness."
Under NF rules, signalling without a whistle does not kill the play (although it causes many problems and looks really, really bad!), but I remember a play in Referee magazine a couple months ago. Here the wing guy thought the 5 yardline was the goalline and signaled TD without a whistle. Under NF, nothing happens (other than that the wing guy has egg on his face). Under NCAA rules, however, it said that the signal alone kills the play, and it would be a TD. Is that right?? I have no idea on NFL rules, but if that is the case, the signal would have to mean the pass was incomplete.
All that being said (and far be it for me to "criqtique" NFL officals), if you are certain of the ruling, blow it dead, sell it, etc. If you are not sure, let the play run. Afterward, you can discuss it. It doesn't look good to call back a defensive TD after the fact, but it looks a lot better than blowing a play dead due to an incomplete pass when it was actually a fumble.
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If the play is designed to fool someone, make sure you aren't the fool.
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