Freeman did appear to be out of the tackle box when the shove occurred (it occurred about 2-3 seconds before he threw the ball, and he threw the ball far away from the tackle box).

Therefore, it is not illegal contact by the DB on the WR. This raises the question of whether the WR reestablished himself inbounds.

According to Mike Pereira, the WR becomes eligible after reestablishing back in bounds. Everyone agrees that Williams did reestablish.

What Pereira said the negation of the TD turned on is that WR cannot be the first person to touch the ball. This assumes that the ball was in the air when the WR’s feet were both back in bounds.

If you freeze frame the widescreen video shot – the ball leaves Freeman’s hand as the WR’s feet are both back in the end zone. This raises the question: Do you need more than both feet back “in bounds” to “reestablish?” Or did they just blow that call?

*(Have they ever defined “reestablished,” or had a really close call like this one that went in favor of the WR?)

Again, I don’t root for either team. But I think if a receiver was legally shoved out in this scenario, they should still be able to be the first to touch the ball if they re-establish. I’m sure people smarter than me have thought about this though, I would just like to know the reasoning behind the rule.

The Saints are NFL’s sympathy case and get lots of help huh?

So, the league CRIPPLES the franchise during a possible historic season (run for Superbowl in home stadium), completely blasting the organization for months dragging the team’s name through the mud to where the average NFL fan now thinks the team is full of criminals.

BUT, there gonna give the Saints a few calls here and there.

Cause they just love them so much.

Like nuking Hiroshima and then dropping down a few bottles of water to try to alleviate the people’s pain.

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what’s to keep the receiver from shoving the def. back to the ground? if the qb becomes a runner, thus making the wr a blocker, the db has the right to fight through the block. hence the rule.

if the qb stays in the pocket it’s obvious it’s a pass, if he leaves the pocket he can be a runner OR a passer making all bets off in the fairness of play.

As far as I know, you have to be outside the tackle box to be “out of the pocket”.

Based on what Pereira explained, and what others here have reiterated, it does look like the correct call based on the rules.

The rules seem odd here though. If you can’t be the first to touch the ball in that situation, you’re pretty much out of the play.

So once the QB is out of the pocket (pretty common on this kind of play), what’s to keep all of the DB’s from just shoving the receivers out of bounds? Seems easy to do since there’s not a lot of field to work with in this scenario.

Maybe I missed something in the explanation.

now that the quarterback has established himself a runner, the receiver becomes a blocker. hence the rule.

what’s so hard to understand about that?

nevermind the fact that he was ‘forced’ out of bounds not PUSHED. it’s coverage technique taught from an early age in football. the receiver wants to flirt with the out of bounds line force him out. the defensive back is entitled to the same piece of turf!

it was the referees gift of a ‘non interception’ that kept the bucks IN the game in the first place. THAT was an incorrect call, unlike the one at the end of the game.

GO PACK!

They need a stud DT to play 2 gap and help collapse the pocket. They should trade up in the draft next year.

I’m not a Bucs nor a Saints fan but the Bucs WON that game !!! That ref should be fined and ride the bench for two weeks .
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Really as a Bucs fan who watched the game I was under the impression that it would have tied the game not given us a win.
The refs always mess up calls that would allow the Bucs to take it to overtime (see the Lions game in 2010).

Freeman was out of the pocket, therefore it was COMPLETELY legal for Robinson to push the receiver out of bounds. That is NOT illegal contact.

For all those people crying about the refs, Harper intercepted the ball and would have run it back for a touchdown, but the refs (wrongly) called it an incomplete pass. Even once we challenged, it was upheld as an incomplete pass, even though all the camera angles showed Harper with his hands clearly under the ball – that ball did not touch the ground!

That was a GIFT from the refs. Stop crying.

Since Freeman was out of pocket, there’s no illegal contact for pushing the receiver out of bounds. Play was called correctly.”

So if a QB does a fake hand off and rolls out on the bootleg, looking down field….the DB can throw the WR down or push him out of bounds?

No Pass Interference on the play because the legal”contact” happened before the QB threw the ball.

No possibility of the offensive player to re-establish himself because there was no defensive foul on the play.

Play was called correctly by the refs, unlike the interception by Harper which was clearly a wrong call. The ball never hit the ground.

You might not like it, but the correct ruling was made on the play at the end of the game. Incomplete pass, game over.

Oh my gosh, listen to the whambulances…….Saints need the refs to get a win??? Really? I told you folks last night, turn your backs on the Saints at your own peril. Goodell only made it easy for the other 31 teams to compete by removing the Saints head coach, GM, and Asst. Coach. All things being even, which they are obviously NOT, the Saints are really holding their own. I suspect that they have finally gotten their grove. Brees will make this team a contender, Goodell and the haters are not happy at this thought, haha…..

Yeah…not with a defense that gave up 400+ yards passing to Josh Freeman. Just hope for an 8-8 season.