Broncos lose to Jets on horse crap interference call
With the Jets facing a 4th-and-6 from Denver’s 48-yard line with just over a minute to play, the Broncos had to have felt confident that they were going to earn a huge win over one of the top teams in the AFC.
The Broncos held a 20-17 lead and Jets’ QB Mark Sanchez had just thrown two straight incomplete passes to bring up a fourth down. When he began to scramble on that crucial fourth down, he heaved a desperation pass to receiver Santonio Holmes, who was being covered by Renaldo Hill deep inside Denver territory. The pass fell short, but the ref standing on the sidelines immediately threw his flag to indicate pass interference on Hill.
The ref may have been in perfect position to make a call, but that doesn’t mean he made the right one. Hill did have a hand on Holmes and at one point he even had his hand on the receiver’s facemask, but to say that he interfered with Holmes’ ability to make the catch is a reach. Should it have been a 15-yard facemask? Sure. But not interference. Both the receiver and corner have a right to the ball and when it was underthrown, Hill was just trying to get in position to knock the ball down while keeping a hand on Holmes at the same time. But he didn’t shove Holmes, he didn’t impede his progress and it wasn’t a situation where he wasn’t looking back at the ball. It was a crap call, plain and simple.
The result of the penalty brought the ball down to the 2-yard line and allowed the Jets to score on a LaDainian Tomlinson 2-yard run one play later. Despite a late drive by the Broncos, New York recovered a fumble at midfield to put the game away.
Bad calls happen every week in the NFL, but it’s always a shame when they affect the outcome of a game.
Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @TheScoresReport. You can also follow TSR editor Gerardo Orlando @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom, and you can follow TSR editor Anthony Stalter @AnthonyStalter.
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Are you for real? First of all he had his arm across had holmes’ chest and yanked on his face mask (so even if it wasnt PI it would be a 15 yd face mask and a first down). And I wonder how close the game would’ve been if the refs didn’t the blow call on Leonhard and the TD for Thomas and also call a phantom PI on Cromartie. This was one of the worst officiating I’ve seen in a while but not because of the PI call on Hill at the end of the game.
Someone grabbing your face mask (incidental or not)and causing your head to turn as the ball is coming toward you is the definition of PI. Even under the old rules that was a 15 not a 5. I dont see how it is possible to have a facemask and not an interference call as you describe it.
“Horse Crap?” Really?
Pulling on the facemask of a receiver when he’s trying to catch a pass is pass interference.
It’s pretty clear on the replay.
What was horse crap was the TD by Thomas in the third quarter.
If a DB holds while the ball is in the air, it’s PI, not holding. So if a DB grabs the facemask while the ball in the air, it should be PI, not a facemask call. The way PI is called in the NFL, that was the right call.
No big deal, Stalter, it was easy to miss if you didn’t see the replay when they focused on his facemask.
There were a bunch of other plays that the refs called incorrectly, just not this one.
Thanks for not rubbing it in, Jim. Clearly I missed it when you check out the replay of Hill grabbing the mask.