 BOLTS BUCKED BY BRONCOS, BLUE
The San Diego Chargers received a royal f@$king at the hands of the Denver Broncos and an NFL officiating crew Sunday afternoon.
The Broncos were driving late in the game, trailing by seven points, and pretty-boy Jay Cutler rolled out to the right for a pass but as he began his throwing motion, the ball slipped out. Chargers linebacker Tim Dobbins scooped up the rock off the ground and stepped out of bounds in what appeared to be the nail in the coffin.
To the viewing audience this Romo-esque butter fingers play was clearly a fumble. To the broadcasters calling the game in the booth in was undoubtedly a game-sealing turnover. Even Cutler admitted in a postgame press conference that he immediately knew it was a fumble. But head referee Ed “Big Guns” Hochuli blew his whistle and Rule 112.32.A.Niner.4 version 72 states that once a referee makes that bell ring, the ball is dead upon contact with the ground.
From his position, he interpreted the play as an incomplete pass. This was an atrocious call. I hadn’t seen a screw job like this since the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee video surfaced.
Hochuli readily admitted his negligence and approached Chargers head man Norv Turner to say, “Sorry, I blew it.”
While I don’t mind seeing the Chargers lose, I absolutely hate seeing any team win one like that. It is a slap in the face to the league and its fans. No team deserves to win, or lose, on a completely botched call like this in any sport and something has to be done about it.
This small addendum called instant replay was adopted by the NFL in 1999. Here’s a novel idea, use the millions of dollars worth of equipment and high-definition cameras to take a look and get it right!
This is a professional league where everyone, including the coaches, players, owners and officials are held to the highest standard. I’m sure, had a rule allowing it been in place, Hochuli would have gladly trotted over to the replay booth to confirm his error on the field.
But I don’t blame this malfeasance on the referee. I point solely to the rules committee. Why don’t they just set a new rule in place where ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING, can be reviewed by the head official. It shouldn’t be that hard.
Or have a national administrative booth, like they now use for baseball replays, and make a call to the game’s referees saying, “Hey, this was wrong. Hold on a second, we need to take a look at the play again.” You can’t seriously tell me another five minutes added to the game time is really going to cause an uproar.
I would also like to point out this fumble wasn’t the only point in the game the Chargers got bent over for a reaming. Late in the first quarter the Bolts were driving on their own side of the field when a ball that Chris Chambers had hauled in got jarred loose.
The refs ruled the play to be a fumble, which was recovered by the Broncos and provided them with great field position. Coach Turner challenged the ruling on the field and this is where these replay rules, or lack thereof, become amusing (not to Chargers fans though).
Hochuli went under the curtain (I wonder if they ever get a happy ending in there…) and waited to view the replay and make a final decision. Patrons watching at home also got the opportunity to see the replay over and over again which showed that Chambers’ elbow hit the ground prior to the ball pooping out.
The man in stripes comes back on the field to make the announcement that the replay review should overturn the call on the field and give the ball back to the San Diegans.
But instead, his verbiage was something to this effect, “The instant replay system is not working properly and since the allotted two-minute period to review the play has expired the play will stand as called on the field.”
Are you kidding me!
So you are telling me that since this million-dollar piece of machinery, in the Bronco’s stadium wasn’t working, the away team gets penalized and finds itself on the wrong end of a bad call. Doesn’t seem right does it?
So my cure-all would be for the NFL to adopt a system where ANYTHING could be reviewed by an official at ANY point in the game. They could also have a safety net by adding a brain trust of NFL representatives huddled together in some hideout that would have access to all the replays shown on TV.
After all, we only want them to get every single call right, right? Is that too much to ask from a loyal fan? |
