Did you see the challenge by Philly 2nts Monday nt game. The officials ruled Philly intercepted it, but they challenged it cuz they did not want the interception. Why??!! Well it was a fake punt by St. Louis from around the 50 and the player who intercepted it collided with a teammate and was downed at the 15. The play was overturned so they took over at the 50 instead of the 15. Anyone see a team make a challenge like that before?

Haven't seen that one before. Sounds like a very smart coach, and a lucky defensive back.

There was also a penalty on the play. Dumbass Reid declined the penalty, and THEN challenged. Should have challenged immediately --- then if they ruled it an interception (it was close - I never saw the ball actually hit the ground on any of the replays --- it just looked like it PROBABLY did - to me, far from conclusive evidence), he could have just accepted the penalty and made StL punt again.

Then again, he might have been better off saving the challenge and simply making them kick again.

This is where the WR needs to know D&D.

It would have been best to knock the ball down to the ground.

Decline the foul. YNG = TO. Keep your challenge, TO and put the offense on.

Why make them punt again? You're getting the ball at the 50.

When is the last time you saw a DB knock a ball to the ground in this case? If they can pick it they will for nothing more than padding of stats for a bigger paycheck, even tho the team thing maybe to knock it down and save yourself 35 yards. Plus they also have the ego thing of "I can run it back for a TD" Why else would you see idiot plays plke Miami did where they picked it and lateraled 3 times only to fumble and lose the ball giving the Offense the ball back for a 1st and 10, 25 yards down field.

Ah yes, the NFL. Also known as the me me me league.

We've all seen d-linemen players celebrate after participating in a sack. They do a stupid dance like they're the best thing since sliced bread. They just wnat TV time. It should occur to them that it's their job to tackle somebody.

I don't have a favourite player, but should a DB knock a pass down because it's better for his team, then unfortunately I will concede that he's a favoured player of mine.

Can an actual NFL player respond to this?

Early in my high school officiating career, the DB in a game I was working deliberately knocked the ball to the ground rather than catch it and return. (It was 4th down with 30 seconds left on a 40 yard Hail Mary.) Our ignorant WH awarded the ball the passing team on the 1 yard line (as if it had been defensive pass interference) for what our WH deemed to be unsportsmanlike conduct. The coach went crazy and the team went on to score from the 1 and win the game. The WH was subsequently demoted and I went on to join another association.

Maybe some other ignorant WHs have done the same thing so these DBs who catch and run are protecting themselves from bad officiating. :D

[Edited by Bob Lyle on Jan 1st, 2005 at 11:46 AM]

Bob, did anyone explain to the R that the player knocked it down instead of intercepting it so they would get it at the 40 instead of the one???? I hope someone did and the white hat was just too stubborn to change his mind. In a case like that the whole crew needs to talk and I would hope the R would be so stubborn to go 1 against 4 or 5.

I was in my rookie year and it was a JV game. All the officials on the crew were new except for the WH. A couple of us, who had played football in our younger years, tried to explain to the WH the strategy of batting the ball to the ground but he wouldn't listen. He insisted that this was unsportsmanslike in high school football. I wounder what he would have thought of the "unsportsmanlike" strategy of taking a knee to run out the clock?

Anyway, that was his last game as a WH.

How did he justify placing the ball at the 1???

From my first post on this subject

"Early in my high school officiating career, the DB in a game I was working deliberately knocked the ball to the ground rather than catch it and return. (It was 4th down with 30 seconds left on a 40 yard Hail Mary.) Our ignorant WH awarded the ball the passing team on the 1 yard line (as if it had been defensive pass interference) for what our WH deemed to be unsportsmanlike conduct. The coach went crazy and the team went on to score from the 1 and win the game. The WH was subsequently demoted and I went on to join another association."

I'm not sure of the WH's twisted reasoning, but like I said above, the ball was passed from about the 40 and batted down near the goal line. As far as I can tell, the WH invented a rule to right what he considered an unsportsmanlike act. He wouldn't listen to any of us or the coach.

REPLY: Since it's pretty obvious that your WH that day had the IQ of a gnat, he could no doubt not comprehend the strategy being employed by the DB. Someone should have just reminded him that it's legal to bat a pass in flight -- regardless of the reason!