San Diego/Denver

[rulesmaven]

In the micro sense, it's too bad that a missed call probably contributed directly to the outcome of the game. In a macro sense, this event, if anything, serves nothing but to increase perception about the integrity of the game. Hochuli's response, both immediately on the field and after, and the league's handling of the situation, confirm what everyone on this board knows but that the general public doesn't and which plague the other 3 professional sports (baseball to a lesser degree than basketball or hockey) -- these guys don't give a crap who wins and want nothing more or less than to get it right.

This incident can and should lead to more discussion about how to improve accuracy and whether the rules need to be changed to keep plays alive longer given the potential for review. But that's secondary. As others have said, there's nothing that can make accuracy 100 percent. What matters is how the official and the league respond.

I think there should be a term or pithy expression for the murphy's law aspect of these situations, though -- a missed call always seems to guarantee the result. Once the incident happened, was there any doubt that Denver would win the game? Just like the UW call last week on the ball thrown in the air -- would it be too much for the kid just to make a 30 yard field goal? Of course it doesn't work that way.