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NFL admits wrong call on Polamalu INT
gosteelers
Posts: 2,668 ✭✭✭
in Sports Talk
You gotta love when the NFL comes out and admits that it's refs blew a call. What are you going to do about it now if the Steelers had ended up losing the game because of this? That guy that did the Den/NE game (Jeff Triplette?) always seems to be in the middle of controversies, too, but, somehow, he, and his crew, got to do a playoff game. The officiating this past weekend was awful. Do any of the same crews get to do the Championship Games and/or Super Bowl?
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NFL.com wire reports
NEW YORK (Jan. 16, 2006) -- The NFL said the referee made a mistake: Troy Polamalu caught the ball.
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The league acknowledged that referee Pete Morelli erred when he overturned on replay Polamalu's interception of a Peyton Manning pass in the playoff game between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.
Mike Pereira, the league's vice president of officiating, said in a statement that Morelli should have upheld the call, made with 5:26 left in Pittsburgh's win over the Colts.
After the reversal, the Colts went on to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion, cutting the Steelers' 21-10 lead to 21-18. That led to a wild final few minutes, and Pittsburgh clinched its win only when the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt.
On the play, Polamalu made a diving catch of Manning's pass, tumbled with it in his hands and got up to run. When he did, he fumbled the ball, then recovered. Colts coach Tony Dungy challenged and Morelli ruled Polamalu had not completed the catch.
About a dozen TV and scoreboard replays indicated otherwise. Had the call stood, the Steelers would have had the ball at their own 48 with an 11-point lead.
"The definition of a catch -- or in this case an interception -- states that in the process of making a catch a player must maintain possession of the ball after he contacts the ground," Pereira said.
"The initial call on the field was that Troy Polamalu intercepted the pass because he maintained possession of the ball after hitting the ground. The replay showed that Polamalu had rolled over and was rising to his feet when the ball came loose. He maintained possession long enough to establish a catch. Therefore, the replay review should have upheld the call on the field that it was a catch and fumble.
"The rule regarding the performing of an act common to the game applies when there is contact with a defensive player and the ball comes loose, which did not happen here."
The NFL almost never makes public the result of its reviews, although it did three years ago, when Pereira said officials should have called pass interference against San Francisco on the final play of a wild-card game with the New York Giants. The correct call would have given New York a second chance to kick a game-winning field goal in a 39-38 loss.
After the game, Pittsburgh linebacker Joey Porter said of the ruling:
"I know they wanted Indy to win this game; the whole world loves Peyton Manning. But come on, man, don't take the game away from us like that."
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello had no comment on Porter's statement.
In the past, players who have made such statements have been subject to fines.
<< <i>The NFL is still definitely going to fine Porter for his remarks. Be interesting to see how much? The fine could be brutal. >>
Somewhere, tucked away in a drawer in a corner office, is an NFL memo advising league officials that it would be in the league's best interest if the Colts and Darling Peyton go to the Super Bowl.....maybe we should get Judith Miller of the New York Times on that story and see what she can dig up.
<< <i>So the NFL is basically agreeing with me when I say "enough already with the challenge rule".....it's useless and the Polamalu call is irrefutable proof of that fact. >>
Uhm no they aren't.
Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.
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Somewhere, tucked away in a drawer in a corner office, is an NFL memo advising league officials that it would be in the league's best interest if the Colts and Darling Peyton go to the Super Bowl.....maybe we should get Judith Miller of the New York Times on that story and see what she can dig up. >>
This is going to be nominated for the most ridiculous post of the year.
(a) You are simply echoing what Porter said (woo hoo! go no original thoughts!) and (b) quit trying to bring partisan politics into a football discussion.
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<< <i>
Somewhere, tucked away in a drawer in a corner office, is an NFL memo advising league officials that it would be in the league's best interest if the Colts and Darling Peyton go to the Super Bowl.....maybe we should get Judith Miller of the New York Times on that story and see what she can dig up. >>
This is going to be nominated for the most ridiculous post of the year.
(a) You are simply echoing what Porter said (woo hoo! go no original thoughts!) and (b) quit trying to bring partisan politics into a football discussion. >>
Ax
It's a vast right wing conspiracy!