Comments on: Controversial call gives Steelers win over Ravens, AFC North title

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:51:23 +0000

Good catch but in no way did the ball ever cross the plain. this is along the lines of the same officiating fiasco pulled against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl and as usual The Stoolers benefit from it. Not only where they handed the AFC North on a silver platter but it screwed up the entire AFC playoff picture. Way to go refs. I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again…The officials should be wearing black and yellow stripes instead of white.

By: shayne

shayne — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:14:40 +0000

The Ball must break the plain… of the goal line plain and simple. The Ball didn’t. and for the people that are saying it’s just like the balls cought outside the td with the feet in the endzone… think before you type… HOW exactly does the person stand in the endzone and the ball is passed to him at somepoint the ball broke the plain of the goal line… unless somehow someway the QB decided to run out of bounds and at the last split second seen his reciever open and dives and throws the ball down the sideline outta bounds and by some mircle the reciever catches the ball and keeps both feet inbounds and keeps control of the ball while he falls. that is the only Instance in which the ball would never Technically cross the plain of the goal line in a TD situation, and if that were to EVER happen by some Mircle.. screw it… they deserve the 6 points

By: John Paulsen

John Paulsen — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:17:06 +0000

So I did hear the ref correctly. It’s funny that no one in the studio, in the van or in the booth knew the details of the rule. Costas and Collinsworth kept showing the slo-mo video of the catch to see if he broke the plane.

By: John

John — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:07:10 +0000

I’d like to know the actual rule, and I hope the NFL does clarify it today. If all that is required is possession and two feet down in the end zone, then overturning the call was the correct thing to do. If the ball had to break the plane of the zone, it was a bad decision to overturn it. According to Tony, the correct call was made, so right now I’m ok with it. I’m a Ravens fan, and we’re used to getting screwed on every close call, so this comes as no surprise.

But, on the other hand, the Ravens had several chances to put the game away, and didn’t stop big Ben and Co. when they needed to. If you don’t do those things, don’t depend on the refs to smile upon you over the question of an inch or two here or there, because it’s just as likely as not that he broke the plane anyway, and like Tony said, the feet were clearly down.

If the Ravens don’t make the playoffs, I hope the black and gold go all the way. I’m not a sore loser.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:21:50 +0000

Your actually both wrong

1st the pylon rule was changed the ball now has to cross inside to be a TD

and 2nd the ball does not have to cross the line

According to the NFL Digest of rules:
“A receiver is deemed to be in possession of a catch when both feet touch down in bounds while the receiver demonstrates control of the football. Should a receiver make a legal catch of the ball with both feet in bounds in the end zone, a touchdown shall be awarded even if no part of the ball was deemed to break the plane of the goal line while in possession of the receiving player.”
The “breaking the plane” rule is for a runner, or once a receiver becomes a runner. That is why the ref emphasized the fact that both of Holmes’ feet were down. The commentators are stirring up a lot of controversy because none of them know this aspect of the rule. It will all be cleared up by the end of the day tomorrow, when the NFL releases a statement confirming that since Holmes’ feet both clearly touched down in the end zone, the catch was properly deemed a touchdown.
so that WAS a touchdown.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:54:05 +0000

DarcZombie – Wrong. We do see all the angles that the refs see. That has been reported many times over the years, so get it right.

By: John Paulsen

John Paulsen — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:49:25 +0000

I’m just relaying what the ref said when he made the call. If I remember correctly, he didn’t say anything about the plane, but according to the NFL Rules Digest, which says the following…

“When any part of the ball, legally in possession of a player inbounds, breaks the plane of the opponent’s goal line, provided it is not a touchback.”

…says that it does indeed have to break the plane. That always got me about the pylon play. The runner would just sneak his feet inside the pylon but the ball would be out of bounds (and maybe not even break the plane until after he’s out of bounds. But they ALWAYS call that a TD.

As for this play, it appeared in super slow mo that the tip of the ball crossed the goal line, but even in high def, it was really f’ng fuzzy.