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Five reasons the Detroit Lions can't complain about The Non-Call
</header><cite class="byline vcard top-line" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 12.1000003814697px;">By Frank Schwab<abbr style="display: block;">18 hours ago</abbr></cite>
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A penalty that ended up not being called after the flag was thrown was easily the most talked-about play of the NFL's wild-card weekend.
The scenario should be familiar by now. On third-and-1 in the fourth quarter, the Detroit Lions threw to tight end Brandon Pettigrew. Dallas Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens was guarding him, never turned around, made some contact and a flag was thrown. Then the flag was suddenly picked up well after the play was done, and the referee announced there was no penalty. The game swung on that play, and the Cowboys won 24-20 a few minutes later to advance to the NFC's divisional round.
Even though that is the play everyone is discussing, it wasn't the only one in the game. Here are five reasons Lions fans can't complain about The Non-Call:
They should have gone for it after the non-call
<figure class="cover get-lbdata-from-dom go-to-slideshow-lightbox" data-orig-index="0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; cursor: pointer;">
</figure>Lions coach Jim Caldwell (USA Today Sports Images)
No matter what happened with the flag being picked up, the Lions had to evaluate this situation: Fourth-and-1 at Dallas’ 46-yard line with 8:18 left. They held a three-point lead. Also add that they were seven-point underdogs and have won one playoff game since 1957. The Lions converted 10 fourth downs in the regular season, tied for second-most in the NFL (at a 50 percent clip, tied for 11th best).There’s no reason for head coach Jim Caldwell to play to not lose given the entire situation. You’re a single yard from significantly increasing your win probability on the road against a heavy favorite. If you don’t get it, your defense is still capable of getting a stop. Go for it. Go win the game. The non-call has nothing to do with that.
The punt that ensued
The Lions took a delay-of-game penalty instead of going for it, then punter Sam Martin shanked a 10-yard kick. So, basically, they gained 5 yards of field position from punting. It was like a turnover. The Cowboys cashed in.
No one play wins or loses a game
The Lions led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 17-7 at the half. The Cowboys tripped all over themselves in the third quarter, with Dan Bailey missing a field goal and a DeMarco Murray touchdown being wiped out with a holding penalty. But the Lions let the Cowboys score a touchdown after that holding penalty, and basically let the Cowboys off the hook the entire night.
The Lions led 20-7 in the third quarter and then allowed 17 unanswered points to finish the game. They couldn't get a stop on Dallas' final drive, including a fourth-and-6 from Detroit's 42. The Lions couldn't get a score of their own in the final 2:32, even when the Cowboys forced a turnover and fumbled it right back to them.
They had plenty of chances to make the controversial non-call irrelevant.
If they beat the Packers in Week 17, they wouldn’t have played at Dallas
Hey, the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks aren’t complaining about bad calls this weekend. They’re on a bye, which the Lions would have enjoyed had they beaten Green Bay and a less-than-healthy Aaron Rodgers in Week 17. Maybe it’s a stretch, but when you go on the road in the playoffs in any sport, you have to expect a little more adversity. The Lions could have avoided that.
It is not a clear-cut penalty
As Michael Strahan said in Fox’s postgame show, the outrage was magnified because the officials picked up the penalty flag after throwing it first. Had a penalty flag never been thrown, would there have been such an issue over the lack of a call? Probably not.
The thing is, simply face-guarding a receiver is not illegal, although many people think it’s a penalty.
Was the contact by Hitchens enough? You could make an argument that you see that kind of contact often without a flag, especially if you watch the play in real time. If you saw a defender turned around toward the line of scrimmage make that same contact, would you complain there wasn’t a flag?
Facing a receiver while you cover him is not a penalty. The flag depends on the contact. Former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira, who was on the Fox broadcast, thought it was clearly defensive pass interference.Perhaps it was, but I'm not sure Hitchens' contact alone draws a pass interference call in a normal circumstance. It looked worse because he never turned around and the officials threw the flag first. It can be debated. And it will be.
The controversy of the lack of a penalty there will last a long time, and will also overshadow a tremendous game. And the Lions and their fans will bemoan it for a long time. But it wasn’t the entire reason for the outcome of the game.
Five reasons the Detroit Lions can't complain about The Non-Call
</header><cite class="byline vcard top-line" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 12.1000003814697px;">By Frank Schwab<abbr style="display: block;">18 hours ago</abbr></cite>
<iframe src="http://sports.yahoo.com/video/referees-throw-flag-pick-002400536.html?format=embed&player_autoplay=true" data-yom-embed-source="{media_id_1:25191dee-535e-302a-8c77-19e66e4dd6be}" width="640" frameborder="0" height="441" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1420487562424_818" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%;"></iframe>
A penalty that ended up not being called after the flag was thrown was easily the most talked-about play of the NFL's wild-card weekend.
The scenario should be familiar by now. On third-and-1 in the fourth quarter, the Detroit Lions threw to tight end Brandon Pettigrew. Dallas Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens was guarding him, never turned around, made some contact and a flag was thrown. Then the flag was suddenly picked up well after the play was done, and the referee announced there was no penalty. The game swung on that play, and the Cowboys won 24-20 a few minutes later to advance to the NFC's divisional round.
Even though that is the play everyone is discussing, it wasn't the only one in the game. Here are five reasons Lions fans can't complain about The Non-Call:
They should have gone for it after the non-call
<figure class="cover get-lbdata-from-dom go-to-slideshow-lightbox" data-orig-index="0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; cursor: pointer;">
View photo
.
No matter what happened with the flag being picked up, the Lions had to evaluate this situation: Fourth-and-1 at Dallas’ 46-yard line with 8:18 left. They held a three-point lead. Also add that they were seven-point underdogs and have won one playoff game since 1957. The Lions converted 10 fourth downs in the regular season, tied for second-most in the NFL (at a 50 percent clip, tied for 11th best).There’s no reason for head coach Jim Caldwell to play to not lose given the entire situation. You’re a single yard from significantly increasing your win probability on the road against a heavy favorite. If you don’t get it, your defense is still capable of getting a stop. Go for it. Go win the game. The non-call has nothing to do with that.
The punt that ensued
The Lions took a delay-of-game penalty instead of going for it, then punter Sam Martin shanked a 10-yard kick. So, basically, they gained 5 yards of field position from punting. It was like a turnover. The Cowboys cashed in.
No one play wins or loses a game
The Lions led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 17-7 at the half. The Cowboys tripped all over themselves in the third quarter, with Dan Bailey missing a field goal and a DeMarco Murray touchdown being wiped out with a holding penalty. But the Lions let the Cowboys score a touchdown after that holding penalty, and basically let the Cowboys off the hook the entire night.
The Lions led 20-7 in the third quarter and then allowed 17 unanswered points to finish the game. They couldn't get a stop on Dallas' final drive, including a fourth-and-6 from Detroit's 42. The Lions couldn't get a score of their own in the final 2:32, even when the Cowboys forced a turnover and fumbled it right back to them.
They had plenty of chances to make the controversial non-call irrelevant.
If they beat the Packers in Week 17, they wouldn’t have played at Dallas
Hey, the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks aren’t complaining about bad calls this weekend. They’re on a bye, which the Lions would have enjoyed had they beaten Green Bay and a less-than-healthy Aaron Rodgers in Week 17. Maybe it’s a stretch, but when you go on the road in the playoffs in any sport, you have to expect a little more adversity. The Lions could have avoided that.
It is not a clear-cut penalty
As Michael Strahan said in Fox’s postgame show, the outrage was magnified because the officials picked up the penalty flag after throwing it first. Had a penalty flag never been thrown, would there have been such an issue over the lack of a call? Probably not.
The thing is, simply face-guarding a receiver is not illegal, although many people think it’s a penalty.
"There is no such thing as face-guarding," Greg Aiello, the NFL's vice president of communications told the Boston Globe in 2007 over a similar call, via Pats Pulpit. "There must be contact to have a foul."
The NFL’s pass interference rules start with “Contact by a defender who is not playing the ball,” and the key part of that is there needs to be contact. And, technically, there was contact by Hitchens on Pettigrew. There’s contact on many plays in the NFL; it takes a certain level to draw a flag. Everyone knows that.
Was the contact by Hitchens enough? You could make an argument that you see that kind of contact often without a flag, especially if you watch the play in real time. If you saw a defender turned around toward the line of scrimmage make that same contact, would you complain there wasn’t a flag?
Facing a receiver while you cover him is not a penalty. The flag depends on the contact. Former NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira, who was on the Fox broadcast, thought it was clearly defensive pass interference.Perhaps it was, but I'm not sure Hitchens' contact alone draws a pass interference call in a normal circumstance. It looked worse because he never turned around and the officials threw the flag first. It can be debated. And it will be.
The controversy of the lack of a penalty there will last a long time, and will also overshadow a tremendous game. And the Lions and their fans will bemoan it for a long time. But it wasn’t the entire reason for the outcome of the game.
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I'm not gonna C&P this 1 because it is too long. Barnwell is the best NFL writer in the biz by a mile though IMO.
Talks about the call but also WW weekend wrapup.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/w...s-cowboys-panthers-cardinals-ravens-steelers/
Talks about the call but also WW weekend wrapup.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/w...s-cowboys-panthers-cardinals-ravens-steelers/
NFL admits mistake. Of course even the NFL heirarchy wasn't gonna insult the fans and try and say the officials got it right. This Blandino idiot , and of course Roger the Dodger is enough of a weasel to have tried, but ultimately, they knew only very stupid people didn't see that the Lions got screwed, one way or the other. So admit they got screwed and move on is the best course of action.
Dean Blandino acknowledges Cowboys got away with one
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 5, 2015, 2:59 PM EST
APNFL head of officiating Dean Blandino isn’t trying to sugarcoat the key call that went against the Lions in Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys.
Blandino, appearing on PFT Live, told Mike Florio that Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens did get away with a penalty on the Lions’ fourth-quarter pass to Brandon Pettigrew. But Blandino said the missed call that troubled him most was not the pass interference flag that was originally thrown but later picked up.
According to Blandino, the clear penalty Hitchens got away with was defensive holding: Hitchens grabbed Pettigrew’s jersey while Pettigrew was running his route, and Blandino said that should have been called. If it had been, it would have given the Lions an automatic first down.
Blandino said the pass interference penalty that one official flagged, only to get overruled by another official, was a “close call that could have went either way.” Blandino acknowledged that the officials should have done a better job of communicating, first among themselves so that they could get the call right, and then after referee Pete Morelli turned on his microphone to announce the penalty. Morelli first announced pass interference, then later announced that the pass interference penalty would not be enforced — but that second announcement was so hasty that the FOX broadcast missed it.
Although some observers have suggested that Pettigrew also should have been flagged for facemasking Hitchens, Blandino says that’s not the case.
“I felt that was minimal contact,” Blandino said of Pettigrew’s contact with Hitchens’s facemask.
Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant ran onto the field to argue the pass interference call, and Blandino said Bryant could have been flagged for that. Blandino said running on the field to argue with an official is “not an automatic penalty,” but he added that “I certainly would have supported a call for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Ultimately, Blandino admits, if all of the elements of that play had been called correctly, the Lions would have had a first down. Instead the Lions had a fourth down, shanked a punt, and gave up the game-winning touchdown on the subsequent drive. The Lions will be left to wonder what might have happened if that penalty on Hitchens had been called.
Dean Blandino acknowledges Cowboys got away with one
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 5, 2015, 2:59 PM EST
Blandino, appearing on PFT Live, told Mike Florio that Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens did get away with a penalty on the Lions’ fourth-quarter pass to Brandon Pettigrew. But Blandino said the missed call that troubled him most was not the pass interference flag that was originally thrown but later picked up.
According to Blandino, the clear penalty Hitchens got away with was defensive holding: Hitchens grabbed Pettigrew’s jersey while Pettigrew was running his route, and Blandino said that should have been called. If it had been, it would have given the Lions an automatic first down.
Blandino said the pass interference penalty that one official flagged, only to get overruled by another official, was a “close call that could have went either way.” Blandino acknowledged that the officials should have done a better job of communicating, first among themselves so that they could get the call right, and then after referee Pete Morelli turned on his microphone to announce the penalty. Morelli first announced pass interference, then later announced that the pass interference penalty would not be enforced — but that second announcement was so hasty that the FOX broadcast missed it.
Although some observers have suggested that Pettigrew also should have been flagged for facemasking Hitchens, Blandino says that’s not the case.
“I felt that was minimal contact,” Blandino said of Pettigrew’s contact with Hitchens’s facemask.
Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant ran onto the field to argue the pass interference call, and Blandino said Bryant could have been flagged for that. Blandino said running on the field to argue with an official is “not an automatic penalty,” but he added that “I certainly would have supported a call for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Ultimately, Blandino admits, if all of the elements of that play had been called correctly, the Lions would have had a first down. Instead the Lions had a fourth down, shanked a punt, and gave up the game-winning touchdown on the subsequent drive. The Lions will be left to wonder what might have happened if that penalty on Hitchens had been called.
^^^^^^^ they did not admit a mistake on the PI call, actually said that could have gone either way
they did say A DIFFERENT CALL COULD HAVE BEEN MADE. So trying to suggest the NFL agreed PI should have been called is just flat out wrong
I would also suggest that if we're going to start other calls made or not made, as in the calls that had nothing to do with the call in question, then we'd have to talk about all 60 minutes and not just one play
they did say A DIFFERENT CALL COULD HAVE BEEN MADE. So trying to suggest the NFL agreed PI should have been called is just flat out wrong
I would also suggest that if we're going to start other calls made or not made, as in the calls that had nothing to do with the call in question, then we'd have to talk about all 60 minutes and not just one play
I was looking at the game on my Ipad without the sound on and saw that play & turned the Ipad off. I had Dallas (ML -250) & (YES 3 unanswered scores) I thought for sure it was a penalty and figured on losing 455 for the day. Was elated when I later found out
what transpired, as I won on both bets. That non penalty made my day but 19X out of 20X that play would have resulted in a penalty
being called.
what transpired, as I won on both bets. That non penalty made my day but 19X out of 20X that play would have resulted in a penalty
being called.
This makes no sense. So Blandino said if Bryant was in the game and argued the call without his helmet it would be an automatic penalty but since Bryant came off of the sideline onto the field off play it was up to the discretion of the ref? That is some of the dumbest shit I have ever heard. Isn't someone not even in the game running onto the field to argue a call worse than a player already on the field? What if the entire bench ran onto the field to argue the call? That is not in the rule book either.
Blandino said the rule states the player must be on the field. Does it state you cannot piss in your helmet and dump it on the ref's head either? I have a feeling the NFL will create the "Dez Bryant" rule after the season is over to officially make any player coming off the bench onto the field to argue a call an auto penalty.
Normally. I would not care but the flag was thrown, Bryant runs onto the field and then the flag is picked up without an explanation. That is why it matters. No conspiracy theory here just feel like the one ref saw PI, threw the flag, saw Dez's rant and the 100,000 crowd reaction and caved when another ref gave him some reasonable doubt. It is human nature.
The question that should be asked is to the ref that threw the flag. What did he see and why did he throw the flag? You do not throw the flag if you think you saw PI, you throw if you did see PI. What could the other ref possibly have said that made him doubt what he actually saw?
Amazing that Willie actually says in another thread that this official agrees with him from start to finish about this. When in reality the official is in total disagreement with him. Willie says no contact, no interference. The official says it could go either way. Willie says there should have been a face mask penalty on Pettigrew. The official as you show in bold is in total disagreement saying there was minimal contact and no face ask should be called. But according to Willie, this guy agrees with him from start to finish.NFL admits mistake. Of course even the NFL heirarchy wasn't gonna insult the fans and try and say the officials got it right. This Blandino idiot , and of course Roger the Dodger is enough of a weasel to have tried, but ultimately, they knew only very stupid people didn't see that the Lions got screwed, one way or the other. So admit they got screwed and move on is the best course of action.
Dean Blandino acknowledges Cowboys got away with one
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 5, 2015, 2:59 PM EST
APNFL head of officiating Dean Blandino isn’t trying to sugarcoat the key call that went against the Lions in Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys.
Blandino, appearing on PFT Live, told Mike Florio that Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens did get away with a penalty on the Lions’ fourth-quarter pass to Brandon Pettigrew. But Blandino said the missed call that troubled him most was not the pass interference flag that was originally thrown but later picked up.
According to Blandino, the clear penalty Hitchens got away with was defensive holding: Hitchens grabbed Pettigrew’s jersey while Pettigrew was running his route, and Blandino said that should have been called. If it had been, it would have given the Lions an automatic first down.
Blandino said the pass interference penalty that one official flagged, only to get overruled by another official, was a “close call that could have went either way.” Blandino acknowledged that the officials should have done a better job of communicating, first among themselves so that they could get the call right, and then after referee Pete Morelli turned on his microphone to announce the penalty. Morelli first announced pass interference, then later announced that the pass interference penalty would not be enforced — but that second announcement was so hasty that the FOX broadcast missed it.
Although some observers have suggested that Pettigrew also should have been flagged for facemasking Hitchens, Blandino says that’s not the case.
“I felt that was minimal contact,” Blandino said of Pettigrew’s contact with Hitchens’s facemask.
Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant ran onto the field to argue the pass interference call, and Blandino said Bryant could have been flagged for that. Blandino said running on the field to argue with an official is “not an automatic penalty,” but he added that “I certainly would have supported a call for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Ultimately, Blandino admits, if all of the elements of that play had been called correctly, the Lions would have had a first down. Instead the Lions had a fourth down, shanked a punt, and gave up the game-winning touchdown on the subsequent drive. The Lions will be left to wonder what might have happened if that penalty on Hitchens had been called.
