cygweb

I agree with both the calls you mention here. That Hines Ward overturn was unbelievable. Indisputable evidence? Yeah right, even if he had the ball when he was supposedly touched on the foot, how in the world was that indisputable evidence that his foot was touched, I did not see it and neither did the announcers.

The officiating is out of control, they want attention or to be on TV or something. Be careful what you wish for. Referees lost control of the Baltimore/Detroit game. It turned into Baltimore versus the referees. Baltimore deserved to a lot of those penalties and lose the game, but the second ejection and some of the calls were the referees with a chip on their shoulder. That should not happen.

I have to disagree on both counts.

1. The catch-and-run: I thought he had possession the whole way down, and the DB touched his butt. I was bemused at why they didn't blow the whistle right there.

2. On the fair catch, the officiating wasn't bad, the rule is. The kick returner gets a 5-yard bubble until and unless the ball hits the ground. I suspect that the competition committee will be taking a look at that in the off-season.

We talk about this a little more in this week's podcast, but I think the 5-yard bubble rule is well-intentioned but lightly implemented. I'd only seen it enforced when players contacted a fair catcher with the intention of tackling him, not with the intention of getting to the ball after a muffed catch and happening to invade the bubble. If there hadn't been contact and the ball was recoved by Pittsburgh within the bubble, I bet the penalty wouldn't have been called.

I would like to see the footage that overturned the Hines Ward TD. Whether he was downed or not, it wasn't called on the field and there wasn't an angle shown that I thought definitively showed it.