Colts vs Pats Game
 

Want to give props to one of our Iowa refs BJ Scott Helverson on the two big calls in yesterdays game.

The no call pass int before half where the Colts play tripped on his own foot and the TD call with the Pats Gafney?? in the back of the end zone.

Two tough calls but replay show he nailed them both.

Congrats Scott on a job well done.

I'm a disinterested party since I'm an Eagles fan and a basketball ref.

My question is the pass interference call when Ellis Hobbs was guarding Reggie Wayne in the left corner of the end zone in the 3rd quarter.

Is there a face-guarding element to Defensive PI? Hobbs clearly was not looking back at the ball. But he also did not touch Wayne at all nor did he put his hands directly in front of Wayne's face. Hobbs guessed right and flailed his arm at the right moment and the ball hit him in the back of his left arm.

thank you my football brethren.

REPLY: I don't think there's a non-contact face-guarding restriction in the NFL (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but there was some contact on the play and since Hobbs was not playing the ball and effectively "cut off" Wayne's path to the ball that was a little under thrown, the call was probably justified. The color commentator (Simms?) probably shouldn't have used that term in describing the action since most officials associate the word face-guarding with blocking the vision of the opponent.

And BoBo...I'm with you--nice job by Helverson on those calls. On the no-call, I'm assuming the deep wing threw the flag and Helverson came in with the additional information that made them pick it up. (Amazingly, it took the announcers a few replays in slo-mo before they saw that the receiver tripped himself. On the second, he conferred briefly with the deep wing to make sure they both saw the same thing.

Great patience by the two deep guys on the shove out. Also, great job getting together on the apparent DPI. They did an outstanding job.

And to the best of my knowledge there is no face guarding. There must have been contact. I was a little interested in the no call in the endzone on the fade towards the side (can't remember any more specifics). Looked like there was some contact.

Although I was rooting for Indy, on New England's 3rd down pass in the endzone before they kicked their last TD, the receiver got mugged in the endzone. That call should have been made. It was certainly not incidental and probably prevented the TD.

There does have to be contact in the NFL, but there may have been some earlier. I thought both crews did an outstanding job!!!!

Except that he didn't trip himself. His leg bumped the leg of the defender which caused it to hit his other leg taking him down. Not being a football ref, I assume this is what is meant by incidental contact and tangling of the feet, but it definately was the result of contact between the players.

on the "shove-out" TD, did anyone else think it looked like the receiver jumped with his heal on the end-line? Replays never really showed any sort of good angle/look, but I suspect his toes couldn't be that close to the line and his heal not touch it.

The replays I saw of the push out touchdown, eventually showed that his heels were in the air...never really on the line...it wasn't a good look, but it did appear that way. Judging by the calls those guys nailed before and after, and the fact that they were standing right there watching that very thing, I will certainly jump on their bandwagon, it was a great call....

I was confused about the no DPI in the endzone though with Caldwell...would like to hear some comment from the involved parties there....

As someone with a huge rooting interest for the Colts in this game (I live in Indy), I thought the officials did a great job!! The reversal of the Wayne interference was dead on (I didn't think the defender even touched his leg as Eastshire stated but either way it was the correct call). I agree the coverage of the pass prior to NE's last FG looked like interference but I'm not sure which official was keyed on that receiver and what angle they had. The play right before the Wayne reversal there did appear to be interference on NE but it was not called. That was a quick pass over the middle and I can't imagine the deep receivers or even the wings would have had a good angle. The only ones who could have seen it were the R and U and they wouldn't be looking at the receiver at that point.

Great job by the crew!! That's why they are at that level and working that game!!

Good day for the deep officials
 

Everything we say about eyecontact, communication, position, etc. was displayed in both CC games. The call with the force-out in the Colts game and the play by the goal line in the Chicago game was very-well covered by the deep wing and the back judge in these games.

Nice pieces of officating in both games.

There's another play I've seen the Colts get away with a few times and they did it twice again yesterday. It's the plays where NE defense jumps offsides but does not make contact and then a Colt's lineman moves.

Prior to a few years ago, this would have been a foul on the offense since the defense can enter the NZ as long as they get back before the snap. They changed the rule so that if the offensive player moved in reaction to the defensive player jumping offside, the foul would be against the defense since they theoretically caused the movement.

I thought there was a stipulation in the rule (but I guess it is based on a comment by the announcers so it could be wrong), that the movement by the offense had to be a reaction to the defense jumping and not an intentional movement to make the defense's action a foul.

In both plays yesterday, the Colts lineman moved and immediately pointed at the defensive player (and it wasn't the offensive lineman directly across from the defender who moved). They've done that several times the past few games and the call has always gone against the defense.

Thoughts? Were these the correct calls?

I didn't think the one with the faceguarding was worthy of dpi. I didn't see much, if any, contact.

As a diehard Pats fan who for many years had season tickets I'm in mourning for a day.

As a football fan, one of the best games I've ever seen! So, congrats to the Colts and Manning for getting it done.

As a fellow football official, congrats to the crews in both games, especially in the Pats-Colts game. That was IMO one of the best displays of a crew working together as a true team that I've seen in a long time.

eye contact etc
 

As was said above, they demonstrated everything we get told, take your time, eye contact etc....and remember these were "all star" crews, not guys that work together normally, so it was that much more important to demonstrate these small things....great job...

I was checking out articles on the Boston Globe to get their perspective on the game and stumbled on to the message board for the game (I know I shouldn't have done that). There are a few fans clammering on there that the refs were horrible and the reason the Patriots lost.

They were mostly upset about the DPI called on the "face guarding" play (I honestly didn't notice if there was contact), the OPI on Troy Brown, the RTP on the last Colts drive, and the non-DPI call in the end zone before the Pat's last FG.

The OPI and RTP were both correct per the rules and called correctly in the context of the game. As biased fans they just don't realize or see it that way. The "face guarding" play would not be DPI if there was no contact but the official must have felt there was contact. The only call of the group I would question is the non-DPI call but based on the rest of this game, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to the crew for getting it right.

That's why they call them fanatics. It always looks different in slow motion from 8 camera angles to a biased fan than to a trained official in real time from 1 or 2 angles. Great job again guys if any of you peruse this site!

REPLY: Did they mention the TD catch by Gaffney near the end line when the officials ruled that he'd been forced out? I thought not.:rolleyes:

I agree, I thought that was pass interference also. I've seen "a lot" of DPI calls with a lot less contact this year.

And please, please pretty please NFL, change the brush to head to the quarterback by a defender to something other than a personal foul, 15 yards.:eek:

I thought the force out call was a great call. I think that clearly fits the rule as I know it. This is why this is a judgment call and not all judgments has to be agreed upon.

Peace

I thought it was a good force out call also...........

Good comments. It's so funny how some people simply don't have a clue! I was listening to the radio on the way home (Howard Eskin of 610 WIP in Philly). Howard is a complete jackass! If any of you are ever in the Philly area and need a laugh about someone who doesn't have a clue tune in to the AM station....they're always complaining about something.

He's now commented about poor NFL officiating 4 times in as many weeks. Today he went off about Terry McCauley's call of intentional grounding. He literally "went off" about officials "getting together and talking about things." I have noticed Terry does an excellent job of keeping his eye on the QB. I never saw him take his eyes off the QB to watch the pass.

But jackass Howard says "these officials are chickens and they don't want to make the call themselves so they go ask for help after the defensive complains, then make the call!"

He has absolutely, positively no clue that we each have individual responsibilities and that we're supposed to get together and discuss the entire call so we can get it right as a crew.

RTP on Manning
 

I, as well, was a little surprised at the call. What is the point at which the R's are instructed to make that call? Is the criteria some amount of force applied ("blow to the head"), or is the helmet simply off limits to any contact whatsoever? Anyone know their protocol?

Eskin didn't know what he was talking 27 years ago when I was teen-ager living in Burlington County. How has he lasted this long?

He healed the end-line? Was it sick? Injured?

Heal-To cure.

Heel-Part of the foot.

People thrive on listening to jackasses I guess.:confused:

wow, you sure got me there

Monte, Mike Spanier was the LJ in Bears/Saints game. He was at the camp in Sioux Falls last June.

Ya, I thought Mike did a great job! Good movement and really sold a couple of calls on catch/no catch.

I've heard that Blandino has acknowledged both that the DPI on Patriots in the EZ (the one Simms called "faceguarding") was incorrect and that the the absence of DPI on a colts play in the EZ later in the game (can't remember the details) was probably wrong or "questionable."

Haven't seen this anywhere in writing, though, although my google skills are questionable. Did Pereira do his bit on NFL network this week about last week's games? Anyway, my thoughts watching the game live:

1) Big props on the foot trip and the play in the back of the end zone. Great mechanics and coverage and great calls.

2) OPI on patriots number 80 looked pretty clear on replay.

3) The DPI on the "faceguarding" play was a bit tough because replay only showed end of play, but what you see on replay appeared to be sound defense and no contact.

4) There were two plays in which the colts were not flagged for DPI where I already was marching off the yards in my head. One was in the EZ. Can't remember, though, what the Patriots ultimately did on those drives.

5) Seemed to be some holding on pass protection on both sides; the players on both sides seemed to understand how the game was being called pretty quickly.

Edit and follow up: Well, it's being reported here and there that Blandino and league did admit error on the play, but when you read the actual articles it's all second hand stuff by some columnist or something. I think if we hear anything more about this, it will go down as yet another screw up by the television booth not knowing the rules leading to an incorrect assumption that the officials did not.

Any thoughts on the Indy RG jumping up and pointing when the NE DE jumped and tried to get out of the neutral zone. I thought it was a great move by the RG, but I am hearing some football fan(experts) complaining.

Same rule in NCAA as NFL when the defense is in the NZ and an offensive player across from him, or one over on either side moves, it is on the defense. It is what the offensive player should do if the defense gets in the zone.