A couple of critical calls had plenty to do with San Francisco’s 13-10 loss to the Rams on Sunday. One came at the end of the half, one came at the end of the game. Both rulings weren’t overturned due to a lack of indisputable visual evidence.
Via Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com, referee Jerome Boger explained both calls to a pool reporter.
The first came at the end of the half, when the 49ers attempted a 55-yard field goal. The kick was short, Rams receiver Tavon Austin caught it in the end zone, took it out of the end zone, went back in, and was tackled. It looked like a safety.
“The ruling on the field was that the ball carrier brought the ball out onto the field of play, and there was contact by the defender that forced him back into the end zone,” Boger said. The ruling stood due to the absence of evidence showing that the ruling on the field was wrong.
“Not really because there was no shot down the actual goal line,” Boger said. “It was off the goal line. So maybe if we had a shot right down the goal line we could have looked at that aspect, but there was no shot available.”
The second came at the end of the game, with 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick attempting to score with a keeper from the shadow of the end zone. The ruling on the field was a fumble recovered by the Rams. The scrum of bodies made it impossible to overturn the decision.
“On the last play it went into a pile, and there was nothing we could see that could change the ruling on the field, on the last play at the goal line, if you are talking about the fumble,” Boger said.
49ers fans may disagree, especially on the first call. But if the standard of indisputable visual evidence is going to be fully respected (and it wasn’t 11 nights ago when a key fumble was overturned in Chargers-Broncos), it’s far better to err on the side of sticking with the ruling on the field.