Cept sweep it under the rug. All "Official" footage of this is already starting to disappear. Only footage we will see is from anybody in the stands that happened to be taping at that exact time. I will be writing a letter to the commissioners office letting him know I've HAD ENOUGH!!! My wifes happy though, I will have much more time to get things done around the house.
Generally when a defense recovers a fumble they are given the ball. I don't know what world you live in. All the refs had to do was let the play go and find out on the field. That is what they are supposed to do. When they are unbiased.
But the play was not even close to clearly being a touchdown. Common sense dictates that you err on the side of caution and let the play run through. You establish possession and then replay to see if he got the TD. This is extremely simple logic and common NFL officiating practice. That play was extremely close and the refs should not have the power to decide they are going to take away a possible scenario on the field. That official decided that he was not going to allow the possibility of a Miami recovery. It was a conscious decision. Of course you can't establish 100% who recovered from a stinking video replay. He knew that good and damn well the whole time. This is the reason that refs who aren't either biased or incompetent let close plays run their course. I've seen plays not nearly that close be allowed to run just in case. It's much easier to just signal the TD, kill the play, and ensure your hometown team cannot lose possession I guess.
So Pittsburgh doesn't deserve to pay for all of their mistakes? Just Miami. They should have scored 50 points. Despite the shortcomings, the bottom line is that 22 points should have been enough to win. The difference was awarded by the officials. I'll be the first to say Miami blew a lot of opportunities but I'm getting tired of the sentiment around here that Pittsburgh deserved to win more. They made more than their share of mistakes. The bottom line is that the official was the difference in this one. It was a fairly sloppy game all around, the difference was a ref. That's why it's easy to blame him. Because it's his fault. Score a TD in the red zone every time and you'll probably win the damn superbowl. To win in the NFL you don't have to be perfect. You just have to be better than the guys lining up against you. Yesterday Miami was and victory was taken away. They had already scored enough to win, who the hell is that ref to decide they need to score three more to win?
It is hard on refs. That's why they do the responsible thing and keep the play alive. They keep as many scenarios as possible alive. They don't eliminate one possibility entirely. Because they couldn't tell for sure on the field. That is what you should be doing if your intent is to ensure integrity and fair play in an NFL game. Replay can tell you if a ball crossed the plane, it can't tell you who has the ball on the bottom of a pile.
You're right. It's probably better to lose definitively without any question. Enjoy the rest of your season.
I am saying that an official should not have the power to dictate how many points a team needs to score to win. I know another FG would have made that call irrelevant. Even if the official would have done the right thing they still may have lost. But he turned the odds dramatically, and that is not right. That should not happen. Ugly wins are wins. It sucked to only score 6 points off of those turnovers. But at that point near the end of the game that had been enough. The Steelers are automatically excused for committing the turnovers b/c they weren't turned into TDs. But near the end the turnovers were still the difference. Then the Steelers committed another one and the referee made an intentional decision to make sure that didn't stand on the field. It is not right. Players should decide games, not officials. Refs should not get to determine how many points you should score or TDs you should get to beat the PIttsburgh Steelers. They should not determine that you need one more 4th quarter scoring drive.
That win wouldn't have propelled the Bills into the playoff mix. That win over Pittsburgh would have been huge. HUGE. And this wasn't standard bad calls. This was something that was so easy to get right.
You say that lightly, like it's no big deal. Running off to rule it a TD WHILE players and refs are in the middle of a skirmish IS a HUGE deal by itself (and this was after the original TD call). There's absolutely NO reason to do that..... nor especially call in for an extra ball. Seriously, think about it-- why the hell would you hastily rule a TD AND call in for an extra ball when there's one already on the field under a pile of players fighting for it with 2-3 refs staring into it to see who has possession?
The "good team" stuffs their opponent on the goal line and forces a turnover to keep the lead. So by your standards, Pitt wasn't the "good team" b/c they couldn't make the final drive to win the game w/o a BS call from the ref. Jacka$$!!
This is probably the first time ever that I sincerely believe the referee was not impartial. I've had thoughts in the past but then when things cooled down there was reason to believe the ref just made an honest mistake. The fact that this guy handled this so incompetently and on top of that cannot seem to see why he did the wrong thing makes me believe he knew good and damn well what he was doing and why. Stranger things have happened. The NBA had a crooked ref.
I was actually going for the Bills to win and shake things up a little in the AFC. And plus I live in Ravens territory so I don't want them to be too good. I didn't see the highlights though b/c I was too pissed after the Dolphins game to watch football the rest of the day.
Bro, its ok to respond once in a while without talking trash or blatant sarcasm. I understand hes a bills fan and many people dont like or agree with his point of view but he never said anything insulting so please refrain from this type of behavior. The hard part was that the ref called the TD first. Because of the way the rules are written it is hard to overturn that. They needed clear and decisive evidence that Miami recovered and as long as there is one Pitt player in that heap and a bunch of bodies on top they cant get that. Not to mention that once they called the TD, nothing else matters once you cross the plain. If he had ruled fumble then there would be a serious problem with the result but because the ruling was a touchdown there isnt much the ref can do. Just like they are reviewing "the process of a catch" policy they need to review this rule to avoid teams like us getting jobbed out of wins. Your not wrong but neither are the refs.
But they can discuss and even change the initial ruling on the field. It happens all the time. It's not like it's locked in as soon as some dude's arms go up in the air. He made a decision to leave that ruling on the field and go from there. It was irresponsible to put it kindly. I don't relieve him of responsibility for that. He could have decided the ruling on the field should be a fumble.
And now back to our regularly scheduled discussion... Its been rumored on Facebook that Gene rode on the Steelers plane back to Pittsburgh.
The problem is that once the line judge made the call none of the refs disagreed. And once that original call is made you can't overturn that once the play is under review. On the field the refs dont have the benefit of seeing what we see. The problem is the way the rule is written, not the refs call or even the outcome of the play. You win some and lose some
I agree. Did you see the way the doucher was fidgeting when he was making the call like he knew he was f***ing over the game?! He was giving some serious signs of a liar or a person very nervous about what they are saying.
Refs change playoffs... We will be in wildcat contention with what teams?... Jets, pats, ravens, poss chargers, ravens every bad call the refs make in those games also change the outcome of the playoffs!!
Sorry Boik, but for once I disagree with you. This guy has earned zero respect here b/c he has done nothing but talk irrational smack with virtually every post he's made. Just b/c he stays within the rules of his garbage doesn't mean it's still not garbage. He deserves every rude comment made to him until he gets off the Phins bashing bandwagon that he's been on since he came here. I speak for virtually everyone who's had to read any of his ridiculous posts.
Everyone remember this post...... b/c it's the only time we will ever see WC agreeing with any of us.
I was under the impression that he made the call despite 2 refs saying the ball was loose..... or something to that effect. But none of this matters b/c after the initial ref called it a TD, isn' it his job to realize the ball was out (which he knew was b/c her ordered in a new ball)..... hence holding off on ruling it a TD until possession was determined. Did you see all the refs gather together in a huddle to discuss it from all their angles etc like is normally done? I didn't. Just b/c the one judge raised his hands for a TD does not mean that this douchbag needs to hastily call it a TD as if the score was decisive. Seriously, it's not like Ben ran into the endzone untouched to where it was 100% obvious it was a TD. Immediately ruling it a TD after the line judged raised his hands was wrong on at least 2 levels. 1. It wasn't obvious that Ben and the ball even crossed the goal line to begin with b/c he was tackled at it. 2. It WAS obvious that a slew of players were trying to get the ball, including the fumbler himself (as well as at least 2 refs in on it). So how can ANY ref decisively run off and rule it a TD with 2 major uncertainties to deal with? He cant b/c there was nothing definitive about it.
A couple of the refs didn't disagree b/c they were too busy looking into the pile for possession and probably thought that this douchebag wouldn't be irrational and irresponsible enough to run off and call it a TD while the ball is loose with nothing definitive about it being a TD to begin with. There was no reason for him to jump the gun as FAST as he did it while simultaneously calling in for a new ball to hurry up and get Pitt possession back on the 1. The f***er knew the ball was loose but didn't care who on the bottom had it. All that he cared about was Pitt getting the ball back.
Exactly. There was zero common sense or logic involved in that play. Douche'atore made the ruling so fast, it was as if he were 5 seconds away from pissing his pants and needed to get off the field in a hurry!
The REAL problem is that the refs screwed it up from the start. The refs have been taught that if it's a close play to rule it a fumble and figure out who recovered, because this way if it was a TD, it's a lot easier to overturn. Add that to the fact that none of the other refs decided to overrule the initial call OR figure out who had the ball in the pile adds up to a royal screw job.
