Referee admits he blew the final play in the Steelers-Chargers game
Following the Steelers’ 11-10 win over the Chargers on Sunday, officials admitted that they blew a call off an illegal forward pass that resulted in Troy Polamalu’s touchdown being yanked off the scoreboard.
Pittsburgh still won the game regardless, but had the touchdown stood, the Steelers would have covered the 5-point spread.
Green, in a postgame interview with a pool reporter, said that call was errant — even though his explanation for the confusion was almost as confusing as the play itself.
“We should have let the play go through in the end, yes,” Green said. “It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play, we should have let the play go through.”
Green said the confusion occurred because there was a misunderstanding about which lateral was in question.
“The first pass was the one that was illegal, but it only kills the play if it hits the ground,” Green said.
“That was incorrect to have killed it at that point. The ruling should have let the play go on. That’s just the way that it played out. We believe the second pass was legal.”
Green was asked why, since the ball didn’t hit the ground during any of the tossing, the officials decided after huddling that the play should have ended.
“We didn’t kill it on the field,” Green said. “After [the] discussion we decided … there was some confusion over which pass we were talking about and it was decided that it was the second pass that was illegal that did hit the ground and therefore we killed the play there.”
However, the officials realized afterward they erred.
“I know,” Green said. “The rule was misinterpreted.”
Well I’m sure people who bet on the Steelers can take comfort knowing that “the rule was misinterpreted.” This was one of the most bizarre situations I’ve seen in a long time and I don’t blame people for being outraged. The Steelers covered and they should have won the bet – plain and simple. And the worse thing is (besides people losing their money) is that they had the call right the entire time. They ruled touchdown, then took it off the board. They really worked hard to get the call wrong in the end.
I can’t prove it, but I know Ed Hochuli and Rex Grossman were in on this somehow.
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Posted in: Fantasy Football, NFL
Tags: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Troy Polamalu