Former NFL official and supervisor of officials Jim Daopoulos, whose on-field career included being on the wrong end of Jerry Glanville’s “Not For Long” rant, joined PFT Live on Tuesday to discuss the most controversial call since the “Fail Mary” that ultimately prompted the end of the officiating lockout in September 2012.
In a wide-ranging discussion that touched on the call itself, whether illegal contact or holding were viable alternatives, the definition of “clearly uncatchable,” and other related topics, Daopoulos addressed the procedure that normally applies when an official throws a flag and then picks it up.
According to Daopoulos, back judge Terrence Miles would have final say over whether the flag he threw would be disregarded. While, as referee Clete Blakeman told pool reporter Mike Reiss after the game, a collaboration occurred before the interference call was uncalled, Blakeman avoided the question of whether Blakeman imposed his will on Miles.
If they applied the procedure that Daopoulos described as standard, Miles made the decision on his own, after hearing from others who were in position to see whether Gronkowski had a chance to catch the ball that was intercepted by Panthers safety Robert Lester.
For more from Daopoulos, who believes the officials got the call wrong, click the little box in the big box below.