If That's Not PI, then What IS?

[hawknation2015]

Pass interference not called: http://youtu.be/gAhqsb7Oag8

After watching the play, picking up the flag was the correct call.

Section 1, Article 2 of the rulebook clearly states that "An offensive player cannot obstruct or impede an opponent by grasping him with his hands or encircling any part of a defender’s body with his arms." The Detroit WR grasps both the defender's left arm and the back of his helmet.

http://www.nfl.com/static/content/publi ... onduct.pdf

So yes, there was pass interference; however, the offensive pass interference cancels out the simultaneous defensive pass interference. Picking up the flag was the just call in that situation.

Every person on every station doing the postgame, including multiple former players said it was a penalty on Dallas. Both holding and DPI.

Mike Pereira holds a lot of influence, and it's too bad because he's often wrong.

 

[vonstout]

Pass interference not called: http://youtu.be/gAhqsb7Oag8

After watching the play, picking up the flag was the correct call.

Section 1, Article 2 of the rulebook clearly states that "An offensive player cannot obstruct or impede an opponent by grasping him with his hands or encircling any part of a defender’s body with his arms." The Detroit WR grasps both the defender's left arm and the back of his helmet.

http://www.nfl.com/static/content/publi ... onduct.pdf

So yes, there was pass interference; however, the offensive pass interference cancels out the simultaneous defensive pass interference. Picking up the flag was the just call in that situation.

Every person on every station doing the postgame, including multiple former players said it was a penalty on Dallas. Both holding and DPI.

Mike Pereira holds a lot of influence, and it's too bad because he's often wrong.

Tom Jackson, Mike Ditka, Tom Waddle, Mike Strahan, Herm Edwards, Merril Hoge, Ron Jaworski, and others all agreed it was a penalty. Read the rule you posted. It says the offensive player cannot impede the defender. He wasn't impeding him. He was trying to catch the ball. That is legal.

 

[CurryStopstheRuns]

So, the HL that is only responsible for calls 5-7 yards from the line of scrimmage made a call 20 yards downfield?

 

[hawknation2015]

So, the HL that is only responsible for calls 5-7 yards from the line of scrimmage made a call 20 yards downfield?

He would have been in position to see the grabbing, pulling, and encircling by the receiver, but not the facemask that precipitated the defender's interference.

 

[DTexHawk]

EDIT:

Also a really good view showing that the WR/TE did grab the defender's face mask which might of been a reason why he couldn't turn his head for the ball.

https://vine.co/v/OdD5hWMBK2q

I guess them picking up the flag makes some sense if they factored in the facemask to offset, but then it also would've been a replayed down.

Good find for those that never saw the facemask grab.

 

[theincrediblesok]

It was a good no call, cause of the facemasking.

What they should be worried about is the no flags on holding that the Dallas O-line is getting away with.

 

[nepahawk]

Blandino on the Dallas party bus with jerry's son earlier this year.
This should ignite the conspiracy theorys, maybe the fix is in.

 

[kearly]

There was contact with the facemask by the WR . . . which causes the defender to reach out at the WR. Then the WR encircles the defender, grabbing both his left arm and the back of his helmet.

The bottom line is both players were committing fouls against one another on this play. You either pick up the flag or replay the down.

I just saw the alternate angle, he did grab the facemask. Should have been offsetting penalties, which would have meant 3rd and 1 instead of 4th and 1. Detroit still got screwed, just a little bit less than most thought.

This whole thing kinda reminds me of the fail mary.

 

[kearly]

Kudos to Morrelli for doing his job as the new Baghdad Bob. I don't think anyone could have handled that better, honestly. The "I was 100 miles away" response was pretty funny though. "I'll defend the call, but don't you dare pin that shit on me!"

I don't think these officiating higher ups are really allowed to say how they feel in the heat of the moment. You rarely hear a critical, nuanced opinion from the acting head of officiating in these kinds of cases right after it happens. We might hear something different from the league office in a few days though. I'm sure they will address this. My guess is that they will say it should have been offsetting penalties.

 

[Msfann]

That's called PI 99 out of 100 times but not when "America's team" is playing a game that's on the line.

 

[hawknation2015]

Peter King weighs in . . .

When the flag was picked up, I thought the officials did the right thing and got the call correct, despite the protests of former NFL officials like Fox analyst Mike Pereira. I wouldn’t have had a problem if they called defensive holding, because Hitchens grabbed Brandon Pettigrew’s jersey, even though the hold didn’t slow Pettigrew down. And Bryant definitely should have been flagged for coming onto the field to protest the call; there’s no room for that nonsense, especially in the postseason.

But I didn’t see pass interference. I saw Pettigrew push off twice, along with the one push by Hitchens at the end. The officials let them play, which is what you want in that situation—and really all season, but it’s the National Fantasy League, and God forbid someone touches a receiver or quarterback. I didn’t see Pettigrew come back for the ball, which surely would have drawn contact and a flag. I saw a poorly thrown pass by Stafford to a tight end who had a five-inch height advantage (and several more if you factor wingspan and vertical leap) on the defender. If Stafford makes a better throw, Pettigrew makes the catch or stands a better chance to draw the flag. I saw line judge Michael Spanier, who was 15 yards closer and had a better angle on the play and the ball, tell back judge Lee Dyer that Spanier had a better feel for the call. He stuck to his guns, correctly.

Was it clunky the way referee Pete Morelli handled the entire situation? Certainly. But, really, if he didn’t make the initial call but instead picked up the flag after a conference with the other officials, would the outcry be any different? Of course not.

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/05/nfl-detro ... nce-call/#

 

[SnoCoHawk]

If a Seahawks player did that there would be so much laundry on the field it would be ridiculous. Right or wrong, it would be flagged and the call would stick. The new referee emphasis on receiver contact was supposed to "increase consistency" in rule enforcement. Has anyone seen that? It's anything BUT consistent.

 

[YYZHawksFan]

so debatable PI but definitely offensive holding....[COLD comfort for lions fans.]

 

[YYZHawksFan]

If a Seahawks player did that there would be so much laundry on the field it would be ridiculous. Right or wrong, it would be flagged and the call would stick. The new referee emphasis on receiver contact was supposed to "increase consistency" in rule enforcement. Has anyone seen that? It's anything BUT consistent.

true seahawks fans assume flags thrown in games that the seahawks are not even playing in are against them....

 

[Sports Hernia]

If a Seahawks player did that there would be so much laundry on the field it would be ridiculous. Right or wrong, it would be flagged and the call would stick. The new referee emphasis on receiver contact was supposed to "increase consistency" in rule enforcement. Has anyone seen that? It's anything BUT consistent.

true seahawks fans assume flags thrown in games that the seahawks are not even playing in are against them....

Must be fun playing "the contrarian"?

 

[kearly]

Peter King is a moron.

 

[el capitan]

If the way Hitchens defended that pass wasn't some kind of DPI or holding then I think Brandon Browner may have been wronged, a great many times.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Peter King is a moron.

He should stick to baseball.

 

[kearly]

So Blandino sat down with PFT today and gave his thoughts after sleeping on it. Obviously, he is a biased source with a lot at stake in this, and I'm not saying I agree with him, but his thoughts were interesting. As you would expect, he's already making concessions.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... -with-one/

The most interesting part to me:

Although some observers have suggested that Pettigrew also should have been flagged for facemasking Hitchens, Blandino says that’s not the case.

“I felt that was minimal contact,” Blandino said of Pettigrew’s contact with Hitchens’s facemask.

... Ultimately, Blandino admits, if all of the elements of that play had been called correctly, the Lions would have had a first down.

His take on the facemask issue was interesting. In a lot of other situations, it would have been an easy call, but I've always gotten the sense that WRs and RBs get a little extra leeway with it since they are allowed to stiffarm.

I gained some respect for Blandino. The facemask non-call was his get out of jail free card and he didn't use it because he didn't think it deserved a flag.

 

[hawknation2015]

I gained some respect for Blandino. The facemask non-call was his get out of jail free card and he didn't use it because he didn't think it deserved a flag.

He also said this:

Blandino said the pass interference penalty that one official flagged, only to get overruled by another official, was a “close call that could have went either way.”

According to the rules, "If there is any question whether contact is incidental, the ruling shall be no interference." The call he says they should have made was defensive holding for tugging on the jersey, not PI.