Quote:Notwithstanding the explanation provided by NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino after the Packers beat the Lions with an untimed down after a facemask penalty at the end of a Stanford-band-style hackey-sack play by the Packers, the rules suggest that what happened to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers wasn’t a foul.

“No player shall grasp and control, twist, turn, push, or pull the facemask of an opponent in any direction,” Rule 12, Section 2, Article 14 states.

The rule comes with an important caveat: “If a player grasps an opponent’s facemask, he must immediately release it. If he does not immediately release it and controls his opponent, it is a foul.”

Lions defender Devin Taylor grazed the facemask of Aaron Rodgers, at best. If there was any grasping (and there wasn’t), Taylor immediately released the facemask.

The game-deciding penalty underscores the need for the NFL to embrace technology, not necessarily as part of a second-guess replay review process but as a first look at the call based on the many available camera angles. If the NFL had a video official in the booth charged with assisting the on-field crew on a real-time basis in getting all calls right, that official could have informed referee Carl Cheffers and there was no grasp and control, no twist, no turn, no push, and no pull of the facemask.

Even if an official makes that call “every time,” as Blandino claims, it doesn’t make the call right. The video evidence makes it clear that there was no violation.

The outcome couldn’t have been more dramatic, for either team. The Packers avoided falling 1.5 games behind the Vikings in the NFC North, and the Lions had, as a practical matter, a death blow applied to their season. All because the officials didn’t accurately interpret the events unfolding in front of them.

If the NFL wants seasons to hinge on such arbitrary outcomes, so be it. But those who prefer that the officials always get it right will always have the ability to complain when the correctable frailties of human perception give a team an unwarranted opportunity to win a game.

(12-04-2015, 03:46 AM)Joelist Wrote: The facemask was ticky tack but you have to give it up for both of the Rodgers on that last play. Escapes a sack and launches a perfect, high throw and Rodgers the TE fielded it perfectly.

(12-04-2015, 09:27 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Like I said, BS facemask call... but I understand why it was called. Refs don't watch the game in replay, they watch it real time.

It was close enough that it looked like it from their point of view.

(12-04-2015, 09:27 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Like I said, BS facemask call... but I understand why it was called. Refs don't watch the game in replay, they watch it real time.

It was close enough that it looked like it from their point of view.

(12-04-2015, 11:40 AM)GMDino Wrote: Officials call what they THINK they see...not what actually happens.


Shame we don't have the technology to tell them they were in a bad position and the rest of the world knows what really happens.

Maybe someday we'll be able to communicate with the officials on the field when they make a game changing mistake like that.

Someday.

(12-04-2015, 11:40 AM)GMDino Wrote: Officials call what they THINK they see...not what actually happens.


Shame we don't have the technology to tell them they were in a bad position and the rest of the world knows what really happens.

Maybe someday we'll be able to communicate with the officials on the field when they make a game changing mistake like that.

Someday.

(12-04-2015, 09:35 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Game changing plays based on human errors is what the game was built on. All sports have this. It's the same argument for challenging balls and strikes in baseball.

Why bother having them on the field at all? Just take a break after every play and see if there were any penalties...

(12-04-2015, 09:35 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Game changing plays based on human errors is what the game was built on. All sports have this. It's the same argument for challenging balls and strikes in baseball.

Why bother having them on the field at all? Just take a break after every play and see if there were any penalties...

(12-05-2015, 01:50 PM)GMDino Wrote: And yet they have the technology to change them and refuse to do so.

I made a suggestion on another board that would help a lot:

Have two cameras, one over each sideline, running from the wire like the one in the middle of the field.  Line those cameras up with the first down marker after each play and on the end line when it is goal to go.  The mount a camera on the goal line (each side of each line).  

Simple fix.

Does that eliminate every close call?  Of course not.  Would it help using existing technology to ensure that the most obvious missed calls are corrected?  Yes.

Add a rule that if the replay officials sees an obvious mistake. (The face mask on Rodgers) they can tell the officials on the field.  Detroit beat GB for 60 minutes...and the officials, by making a call they THOUGHT they saw, allowed GB another chance.  Even when the officials with the best view did NOT make the call.

But the NFL probably doesn't care because people are talking about the NFL.  They are the new WWF.