Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
If there's a borderline call on a pass play in the end zone at the end of a close game, the ref should avoid blowing his whistle, and let the players decide the play. This awards physical play in the playoffs, and I'm OK with that, particularly if everyone is on the same page ex ante.
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I guess we'll have to agree to disagree then. Because if you think that penalties or fouls that should otherwise have been called should not be called at the end of the game, then I have to ask, what's the point of having rules at all?
And if a player fouls another player, they
are deciding the play. They have actively fouled someone. Telling me that they only decide the play if they get away with it makes absolutely no sense.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
For example, I think the refs made the right (non-)call on the pass play to Reche Caldwell in the back right corner of the end zone in (I think) the fourth quarter, on a possession where the Pats settled for a FG. There was contact. It could have been called interference, if the refs were calling a tight game. Better not to blow the whistle there.
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If you think that wasn't a play that needed to be penalized in any quarter, that's one thing.* If you think they should have flown a flag in the first quarter, but not in the fourth, you're nuts.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
If Banta-Cain really whacked Manning, then maybe it's a personal foul. I didn't see it that way. It seemed pretty marginal to me, and not a call that should be made at the end of a tight play-off game.
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You keep saying this. What you really want to say is, "I don't think a defender should be automatically penalized for putting his hands on the face of the quarterback. Referees should have the discretion to determine if it was intentional and/or significant. So, I have a problem with the rule itself, not its application in the final 90 seconds of the game."
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
With the Tuck Rule play, the refs can't avoid injecting themselves into the play. It's either an incompletion or a fumble. I think you get this distinction.
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Actually, I don't think you understand what "automatic" means. In this case it means the refs can't avoid injecting themselves into the play.
Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
eta: And just so we're clear: IMHO, the refs blew that call, but the Colts won the game and the Pats lost it. The Pats could have converted on the 3rd-and-4 with 2:30 left; the game would have been over. The Pats didn't make their plays, and the Colts made theirs.
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You're right. And the Pats committed two boneheaded penalties in a tight game.
TM
*And if you think that, you necessarily think there was no foul at all.
