i said that wasn’t a TD because of the new dumb rule. but it’s the rule. he didn’t retain posession throughout the entire catch.

not a TD.

The officiating has got to be cleared up. We are not griping about the occasional missed call on a rare play, we are complaining about the messed up calls on routine stuff that change the outcome of games. The roughing the passer against Clay Matthews was bull crap too. Still glad my 9ers won, but it was ugly.

The point no one seems to be realizing is that the review of all TD’s happen in the booth, and if there is a question, THEN it is sent to the ref, and he looks at it.

The booth looked at it, it was a TD, no need to signal the ref to look at it because it was clearly a TD.

I have to say, there were a LOT of errors in the Steelers vs Broncos game. None that had any impact on the outcome of the game, because the Steelers could not pressure Manning enough to stop them.

However, I watched the Dolphins / Texans – Buccaneers / Panthers and Saints / Redskins games, and I don’t think the replacement refs did any worse in those games than the normal refs would have. Yes, there were mistakes, but even the real refs make mistakes.

Broncos/Steelers was the worst officiated game of the day, and it hurt both teams.

And I’ll throw two more in,
Play clock was clearly at zero and there was no delay of game for the steelers.

They called the 2 minute warning before the broncos went for the extra point. Things are looking really good for the regular refs, they’re probably watching these games and laughing at the horrible job the RRs are doing.

how about when Ben Roethlisberger was clearly stopped short on 4th and 1 and the refs called a 1st down. steelers were also granted a timeout after clearly being in delay of game as Ben called the timeout a full 2 seconds after the clock hit zero.

If that stays a TD, there’s a good chance the Vikings win that game, and then the Packers wouldn’t have even made it to the playoffs!!

That’s not even close to being the biggest offender of the night:

1. Refs failing to catch 12 men on the field. 2. Not seeing Tomlin’s challenge flag and then allowing a challenge on a play after another play had been run. 3. Not fixing the clock on the above play. 4. Horrendous call on Rahim Moore for helmet to helmet–it was ridiculously incidental and get got hurt just as bad. Yay or the Nanny League.

Broncos/Steelers was the worst officiated game of the day, and it hurt both teams.

And I’ll throw two more in,
Play clock was clearly at zero and there was no delay of game for the steelers.

They called the 2 minute warning before the broncos went for the extra point. Things are looking really good for the regular refs, they’re probably watching these games and laughing at the horrible job the RRs are doing.

Tamme caught the ball without going to the ground. He dove/was tackled into the endzone. He doesn’t have to maintain possession through contacting the ground because he crossed the goal line. If the play happened at mid-field, it would have been a catch and down by contact. Not an imcomplete pass, not a fumble.

The refs ruled that Gresham was going to the ground in the act of making the catch. Thus, he has to maintain control through landing on the ground. Unfortunately, I’m a Bengals fan, he didn’t.

Essentially there are two separate rules for scoring a touchdown.

If you have control of the ball, and the ball breaks the plane of the endzone, you get 6. Makes sense.

But then you complicate things when you start catching balls within the endzone.

If the just “breaking the plane” concept worked in that situation, you could pretty much bounce the ball off the back of one of your players and have it be a TD. So there are additional criteria to make sure the guy actually catches the ball. Namely– two feet, or a knee, or rear-end, or what have you, in bounds, and the ball clearly in possession. Just like seeing if a pass is complete anywhere else on the field.

Now if you complete that pass at the 10 yard line and your fellow runs it in, he can leap over the pylon, never set foot in the end zone, land on the sideline, and if that ball crossed the plane, it’s a TD. Likewise, if a runner crosses the plane and has the ball stripped, it’s not a fumble, because a TD has already been scored and the play ends the moment the ball crosses the plane.

The issues with the so-called “Calvin Johnson” rule are essentially in deciding how long or how much control someone has to show when receiving IN the end zone and for how long in order for it to register as a TD.

And those criteria seem to change with the whims of refs, replacement or not.

And, honestly, I think the refs did a pretty good job in all the games I watched this weekend.

The Steelers/Bronco’s game was bad, but I thought the Rams/Lions game was worse. I mean some of this stuff is just so blatant and still not even called..absolutely terrible.

Why would they have to buzz down?

Yes I’m a Steelers fan. No I’m not upset about the ruling last night … mostly because I simply don’t understand the rule well enough to determine whether the officials got it right or not.