Comments on: League’s new officiating guru defends key Super Bowl non-call

By: rcali

rcali — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:05:36 +0000

Of course he did. Let’s not let the truth get in the way of the ending of a Super Bowl game.

By: densoh

densoh — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:14:18 +0000

Yes, in isolation, the grab is probably a foul. But so is shoving the guy’s helmet. If you want to pick nits, it’s offsetting penalties and the 49ers get another shot. (This is assuming you actually believe the ball’s catchable; the ball landed 2 yards out of bounds and Crabtree’s first step after the ball landed on the turf was out of bounds.) In practice, referees tend to eat their flags in these situations. If you want to argue against that practice, that’s one thing, but don’t just ignore the push-off.

By: dallascowboysdishingthereal

dallascowboysdishingthereal — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:51:04 +0000

Blah blah blah. If that wasn’t a penalty, then no one should ever score a TD in the red zone again. Just grab and hold the WRs.

By: cudahatestheravens

cudahatestheravens — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:55:23 +0000

Poorly officiated game and no one on that crew should ever be on an NFL field again. I’m starting to believe my conspiracy minded Dad that the NFL is fixed…

By: The Prophet

The Prophet — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 06:43:22 +0000

More reasons why there shouldn’t be restrictions on what plays can be reviewed or not. Calls and non-calls should be subject to review under any circumstance and this play should’ve been reviewed.

By: batesbruce

batesbruce — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 05:55:19 +0000

Have we heard more crying about a play that was barely “gray?” It is the last play of the Superbowl but in real time speed, which is the reality the game is played in in case we’ve forgotten, it’s not close. Harbaugh belaboring it is very disappointing. It smacks of total crybaby loserville. The great coaches in league history don’t gripe about play a week after the event. I guess we need some of the great coaches in the league to loose gracefully. Boy sportsmanship is bad right now.

By: sbaltimore

sbaltimore — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 04:04:58 +0000

I don’t know what play Blandino was watching, but there is NO WAY that ball was remotely catchable. It was 5 feet over Crabtree’s head. End of story.

By: mlbbal52

mlbbal52 — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:37:58 +0000

Know the game…Crabtree initiates contact with 5 yards…before he breaks five yards the ball is throw due to the blitzing Ellerbe…both players jockeying for the ball with Smith holding and Crabtree pushing off…the ball was not catchable…result no flag and a good no call. Niners should have ran better plays and have numerous chances to get it done…if you want to call this a no call then I would respond the hit on Flacco should have been a no call which would have given the Ravens a first down which may have resulted on a touchdown beings they would have had the ball right on the goal line…

Lets move on game is over…

By: johntonioholmes

johntonioholmes — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:33:00 +0000

doe22us

The late hit on Flacco makes up for one of the 3 bad non-calls in the final 2 minutes.

By: johntonioholmes

johntonioholmes — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:31:00 +0000

Awful non-call. Smith wasn’t allowed to touch him as soon as they crossed the goal line because it was beyond 5 yards at that point. He held him the whole way through. Yes, Crabtree pushed off, but they flag should have already been drawn for defensive holding by the time he even laid a finger on Smith.

It was an awful no call, just like the pass interference on second down. Let’s not forget about the 10 holding penalties that should have been thrown during the Ravens’ fake punt. They ran an extra 6 seconds off of the clock because of that.

That took away the 9ers one last chance to the end zone after the free kick.

By: Panda Claus

Panda Claus — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:52:21 +0000

“Viewed in isolation Smith should have been flagged” said Florio. And then he moves along with the story without any justification whatsoever.

Viewed in isolation it was a fair call to me.

At least the new NFL head of referees provided justification for his opinion, unlike me, a Ravens fan and Florio, a Stillers fan.

By: eepobee

eepobee — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:45:22 +0000

Some dope wrote:
Burying the flag was the right call. 9er fan needs to get over it.
—–

It’s not Niner fans, dude, it’s anyone that subscribes to logic and reason. If the ref saw it and chose not to call it he’s consciously changing the rightful outcome of the Super Bowl and needs to be gone now.

By: the1vito

the1vito — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:45:08 +0000

With the reality that the flag is likely deeper in the refs pockets during this stage of such a key game, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate some of these penalties, particularly the result should the penalty be called. Given that live, it did look like Crabtree was doing quite a bit of pushing himself, and there is some debate (Pereira thought it wasn’t a penalty, and said so right at that time), giving the 49ers a 1st down in that situation would have been a disproportionate penalty. With pass interference, there should perhaps be a major/minor penalty. In this case, if there was indeed a penalty, it may have been more likely to be defensive holding, which an automatic first down seems an unfair result, particularly in this situation. Perhaps change defensive holding and illegal contact across the board (it often seems like an unfair result to award a first down on defensive holding and on illegal contact penalties) to just a yardage penalty and a replay of the down. If the yardage results in a first down on its own, then so be it.

By: randyschwimmer7

randyschwimmer7 — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:26:54 +0000

Just like I figured, all the bitter winner Ravens fans. The world is not against you. You won, and there will be stories that have to elaborate on conspiracies that may or may not have happened. Get over it and don’t feel the need to post on all posts relating to the Super Bowl.

By: rtant2013

rtant2013 — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:21:40 +0000

Obviously he is going to try to defend the NFL, because they should be embarrassed by the officiating in that game. That is clearly pass interference, and yes Crabtree is pushing Smith off, but Smith initiated the contact by a bear hug, how does that not restrict a reciever from catching the ball? To me, the Reed being a full yard offsides no call was even worse, or the blatant hold by two ravens on the kick return that was returned for a touchdown. I’m not a 49ers or Ravens fan, but for a game (especially the Super Bowl) to be handed to a team because the refs are scared to throw a flag is ridiculous. As I said, the NFL should be embarrassed by the officiating in that game.

By: EJ

EJ — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:15:52 +0000

The 49ers had several shots to walk away with the W, but they couldn’t get it done. Kaepernick, who was a big reason for the team’s success during the regular season and post-season, was the true thorn in the thumb for the Niners. If Harbaugh would have stuck with the same gameplan that he used for Kaepernick all year long, then I’m sure we would have seen a different ending to the game. You could tell that Kaepernick was uncomfortable the whole game. Harbaugh should have trusted his gut instead of trying to fool his brother.

By: mullman76

mullman76 — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:12:39 +0000

Burying the flag was the right call. 9er fan needs to get over it.

By: eepobee

eepobee — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:11:21 +0000

It didn’t help the niners get into the Super Bowl. Bowman made contact within 5 yards, did not hold, and made a play on the ball (knocked it down, in fact). The plays are not even remotely analogus, and to imply they are exposes Florio as the poser he is.

By: westclaims

westclaims — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:04:58 +0000

Took them a few days, but they knew they had to respond with something.

By: doe22us

doe22us — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:52:36 +0000

I think Joe Flacco got handed the buisness out of bounds which should have drawn a flag, so fair is fair. Sometimes people say let the players play other times not. I guess it all depends on what side of the calls your team falls on

By: sdakota

sdakota — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:50:59 +0000

get over it people, quit crying, you know, like the kicker who flopped to get the running into the kicker penalty

By: gregstep

gregstep — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:44:58 +0000

I don’t hear 49er fans complaining about the key 3 down play on the Ravens 4th quarter drive when Flacco got nailed to the ground 2 yards out of bounds. No flag there.

By: sourdoughsam

sourdoughsam — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:41:38 +0000

I’m not blaming the refs for the Niners’ loss. The Niners lost because they just weren’t ready for the Ravens in the first half and Greg Roman choked on the sequence of play calls down near the goal line at th end. However, the officiating in that game was pretty bad when you consider that the two most glaring non-calls took place near the ball. Everyone talks about the Crabtree non-call, but the no-call on the double-holding of Bruce Miller on the kickoff return TD was probably more of a difference-maker. Again, the loss lies on the 49ers’ shoulders, but seeing something that obvious not get called just drives me crazy, especially when it was the reason the lane opened up.

As for the P.I., this is my personal opinion on how it should be called:
Pushing should be allowed on either side- it’s football after all. Holding should not be allowed, ever. I know it’s not the rule, but I do think if the NFL is going to allow the players to compete for the ball, they need to have some discrepency between trying to gain separation by pushing and holding to avoid getting beat. Any scrub can hold.

By: donchacho

donchacho — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:39:10 +0000

there was no helmet to helmet the defendors arm hit the helmet. you guys pull out every excuse possible to try and diminish the victory. forever it will say 2013 ravens champs, no asterisk, nada. get over it.

By: harrisonhits2

harrisonhits2 — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:33:35 +0000

Mike Perreira was nothing but an apologist for the most horrid and worst calls made by refs for years, and his replacements have continued that fine tradition.

No matter how bad, how outrageous or how wrong a call is the league will always claim it was correct.

Whether or not Blandino is correct in this case he’d say the exact same thing either way. The league virtually never admits mistakes of any kind.

By: stull60060

stull60060 — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:32:05 +0000

I am not a fan of the Ravens or Niners. But as usual the NFL new head ref is spouting the usual BS. If that play happened in the regular season they would have called it interference. No question. I know for sure Super Bowl or not if it were the Raiders instead of the Ravens they would without question have called it pass interference. And if the refs on the field didn’t call it an NFL Official up high in one of the press boxes would have called down to the field and reversed it. BOOK IT.

By: oakman24

oakman24 — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:19:40 +0000

60 Minutes Sports on Showtime had a great angle of this play, it was from the opposite side of the CBS camera ( The Ravens slideline).. in it you can clearly see Crabtree initiate the contact, running into Smith, then using his hands to push off, (left hand on the helmet)…Great no-call.

By: TD Hawk

TD Hawk — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:18:13 +0000

Crabtree didn’t need to run into Smith, that cost him time, all he had to do was juke once (maybe), go straight to the corner and concentrate on getting his tootsies down and not bobbling the ball. No call even in the second quarter.

By: elwaysmilehighdenver

elwaysmilehighdenver — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:12:52 +0000

Hey Dino. You’ve never officiated an NFL
game. How can you lead and run that crew of misfits? They’re no different than the replacement hacks!!

By: 2jivecrew

2jivecrew — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:12:31 +0000

How about the blatant non-call on the helmet to helmet shot on 3rd down of that same drive? That should’ve been an automatic 1st even before the subsequent DPI even took place.