Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason has been in the league for 13 years and can usually be counted on to provide a mature presence on the Ravens' sideline.
But a bad call in the first quarter of today's Ravens-Broncos game made Mason go bonkos.
On a third down pass from Joe Flacco, Mason was attempting to cut on his route and go back to the ball when Broncos cornerback Alphonso Smith grabbed Mason's jersey and pulled him by it. Smith's grab prevented Mason from getting to the ball in about as blatant an example of defensive holding as you'll see.
But somehow the officials missed it, and that drove Mason crazy. He got in an official's face, took off his helmet on the field, then slammed his helmet to the ground on the sideline. His actions drew an unsportsmanlike conduct flag, and Ravens coach John Harbaugh had to restrain Mason from going back onto the field to confront the official again.
Mason can probably expect a fine from the league office. But the NFL should also acknowledge that the official badly screwed up by missing the holding call.
Early in the second quarter, the Ravens lead the Broncos 3-0.
Bad call makes Mason go bonkos
Posted by Michael David Smith on November 1, 2009 1:34 PM ET
Permalink
21 Comments 
Latest stories in: Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Rumors, Top Stories
Latest stories in: Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Rumors, Top Stories
How about a post about Jairus Byrd picking off two passes in the first quarter of the Bills/Texans game, bringing his total to 7 in his first 4 starts?
Goddamn.
I don't blame Mason, the officiating this year is as bad as I can recall ever seeing it. It seems every week there is at least one unbelievably obvious call that the refs miss. Last week it was the phantom tripping call on the vikings that allowed the steelers to steal a game.
They look like the Ravens of old today. D-Mase is firing up his team.
Denver has a good D. I hope the Ravens can score some points...
Orton needs to lose the Ron Jeremy 'stache.
"Mason can probably expect a fine from the league office. But the NFL should also acknowledge that the official badly screwed up by missing the holding call."
Why? Happens every game.
amazing that the broncos get calls like this every game. its hard to believe that they can be lucky like that all the time.
Wow, what a surprise, a official screwed up in a game (eyes rolling)
Allowing these officials to be in control of a game is like picking a mentally challenged kid to teach the slow learning class. They are not competent enough to do it, just like these stupid officials shouldn't be allowed to have that much power in determining the outcome of a game. To many times each week they screw up and it costs a team a win and possibly their season. That is way to much control to give to a officials when they can't get anything right. The sad part about it is that most of these officials have been in the NFL for 10 years or more and continue to screw up on a weekly basis. Where else but the NFL could you screw your job up every 7 days and still have a job?
Need to allow reviewing of penalties, called or not. *evil grin*
@AugustusMcCrae
You need to apologize to Ron Jeremy. That 'stache is nothing close to Ron's "flavor savor".
Probably not much he could have done in
this case. As they say in the business,
when you go live, that's it. That's why
I've been advocating for years for news
casts to end their live broadcasts. You
cant control what you don't know and you
can't know the future. Why open yourself
up like that? You're inviting failure. A
successful busioness manager (and yes,
folks, football is a business) will pinpoint
the areas of weakness in a process or a
broadcast, and will energetically,
violently, seek to route out the
weakness. When I see players act like
this, I just shake my head. There goes
another one, I seem to be thinking. Why
can't they get this rigjt? When are the
adults going to take charge and deliver
the goods.
I would love to know what criteria the officials use when calling holding. They turn a blind eye to most holding calls, and when a games on the line the flag starts coming out.
Either call it all the time or not at all.
Just my humble opinion.
Considering the dominance of the NFL as the premier League in North America, you would think they would do something to improve the officiating. It's almost as if Goodell acquiesces to the fact that the clowns in the stripes have a mandate to inject comedy/tragedy into every game. It also seems like the officials LOVE to get facetime on TV.
The NFL is one of the most popular sports on earth, yet, the officiating is usually the worst of all the other sports...except (maybe) the Italian Baseball League. Those guys are often staring at some beautiful woman in the stands & can miss the entire play. It's hilarious!
But not as hilarious as the expression on Norv's face after "the call". The Broncos got a giftwrapped "W", & all numnuts-muscleboy could say was "I made a mistake..." as the Chargers got "Norv'd" again.
Randy Moss had to give back 2 or 3 TDs b/c of Offensive Pass Interference when he played in Oakland. Now that he's on the "Golden Team", he never gets called.
The officials' tendency to remember some irrelevant, obscure, never-heard-of-before rule, then enforce their interpretation of it at (usually) the worst possible time, definitely hurts the league's credibilty.
One week, they make some stupid ass call, then have to spend a whole week justifying it. The next week, the EXACT same play will happen & it won't get called...then, they're forced to flip-flop & spend the whole week rationalizing their flipflop.
Pitiful.
@JoeFlaccosUnibrow
You're right, man. I saw him with the helmet off and withdraw my previous statement. With apologies to R.J.
On football, the Ravens need some points! What was up with that PF on Oher? I mean, come on!
Yes, it happens every game.
It happens every game but Mason is no rookie. He should be able control himeself better. I'm sure he has gotten away with worse.
Its nice that both times the Broncos asked for an interference call, they got it....well after the play ended.
Typical donkey favoritism - the league likes officials to turn a blind eye to teams that have favored owners as seen by the giant Goodell in the big apple.
Bowlen, Kraft, and Jones always get the good breaks...wait until next year when the new rounds of bargaining begin - see which owners get their voices heard and you will understand the bad calls.
Wow, I can't believe that on their BIG day against the Pack, a few sad little Vikings fans are running over to this post for yet another round of whine about the imaginary phantom tripping call that the NFL, the officials, the Steelers, and a vengeful God devised to steal their imaginary undefeated season. I kept thinking at some point they'd be able to grow up and take their loss like men.
Obviously I overestimated them.
That was a bad call...very bad. But it's the type of call that goes unnoticed ten times a game (see holding on every kickoff return).
And it's frustrating for the fans to see calls like that. But for Mason to lose it like he did just confirms that the Ravens are bigger babies than the rest of the league. Granted, they have been the victims of some tick-tack calls, but they got away with those last year. Now all of the sudden they've become the biggest whiners in the NFL. They need to deal with the inevitable non-game-changing calls.
jb10 says:
November 1, 2009 2:00 PM
amazing that the broncos get calls like this every game. its hard to believe that they can be lucky like that all the time.
_____________________
Nice to see that others feel the same way as I do.
The numbers of bad/questionable calls that go in favor of the Broncos vs those against them seems to be highly imbalanced in favor of the Broncos. How does that continue to happen every week. The Mason call was one of several again this week that went in favor of the Broncos.
The unnecessary roughness call on a Baltimore lineman who "pushed" a Denver lineman into the pile after the play ended (continuation in my view) was another example of a poor call that went in the Broncs favor.
If the Ref's are gonna call cheap stuff like that maybe the throwback uniforms should be pink & frilly.
# VoxVeritas says: November 1, 2009 1:57 PM
"Mason can probably expect a fine from the league office. But the NFL should also acknowledge that the official badly screwed up by missing the holding call."
Why? Happens every game.
Sure does. Happened in the Raider/Charger game today, and led to a pick.
Heh, if you think the Pats get all the calls you are badly mistaken. They have been getting the shaft from the refs for a few years now, just like a few other teams.
This is easily fixed by hiring full time refs, so they can concentrate on getting it right, practice, and review. It won't ever be perfect, but it will be better. A lot of bogus stuff is going on right now, and it is very obvious this year. Flags being thrown for one thing, then the call being changed for something that happened after the flag was thrown. Obvious non-calls, and changes in the call so it will result in a non-reviewable situation.
There is only one reason that the league allows the officiating to be so bad on a weekly basis, and that is so they have an excuse to fall back on when they are accused of trying to force the outcome of a game their way. This way the league can help make sure the teams they want will get into the playoffs. That is, the teams most likely to increase viewership and revenue streams.