It was a rough finish for Green Bay in overtime. After winning the coin flip, the hopes of Packer Nation were doused rather quickly. First, Aaron Rodgers just missed Greg Jennings on a deep ball that probably would have won the game. Then, on 2nd-and-10, Darren Colledge was called for holding while a helmet-to-helmet hit on Rodgers went uncalled, setting up a 2nd-and-20.
After a 14-yard gain on second down, Rodgers was sacked (and fumbled) on the ensuing play, and Karlos Dansby recovered the ball and trotted into the endzone for the game-winning score. During the sack and fumble, beleaguered cornerback Michael Adams clearly had a hold of Rodgers’ facemask, but once again it went uncalled. (Side note: I give Arizona DC Billy Davis credit — Adams couldn’t cover anyone in the secondary, so you might as well send him on the blitz.)
Matt Snyder of FanHouse’s Zebra Report had this to say about the two blown calls:
I’m pretty surprised there was no call for roughing the passer here. For the past several years, we’ve seen officials — at the urging of the league office — be particularly protective of quarterbacks. This wasn’t a situation where the defender got blocked into Rodgers or where Rodgers initiated the contact himself. It appeared simply to be a blow to the helmet by the helmet of a defender. In other words, clear roughing the passer.
Why did the official not call it? If I had to mount a guess, I’d say he didn’t see it. The referee (the one wearing the white hat who stands behind the offense) is supposed to be watching the passer. Unfortunately, he was in the process of throwing a flag for holding during that same play. I’d wager that he was still getting the number of the offending player (for the hold) and didn’t see the contact on Rodgers. Please don’t misconstrue what I’m saying as a justification or excuse, though. The referee is supposed to be protecting the quarterback on a passing play, so there is no excuse for missing this contact. I’m just trying to surmise how he missed it.
Two plays later, the Packers lost the game on a Rodgers fumble which was returned for a touchdown. On the play in question, it does appear the defender got enough of Rodgers’ facemask to warrant a flag, in my opinion. The problem here is the positioning. If you watch the replay from behind, you can’t tell where the defender’s hands are — and this was the view the referee had. There’s no way he could see it. No one else would be watching the quarterback, as each official is assigned to a certain grouping of players and the referee is the only one watching the passer. There’s also another layer at play, which is that the referee, in this case, had to watch the ball to determine possession once it was loose. This was just a blind spot that is unavoidable when using a seven-man crew of human officials.
Now, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a penalty. A penalty is a penalty. As I said, it’s hard to fault the referee for missing the facemask. I do believe he made a big mistake by averting his eyes from the quarterback on the first no-call. On the possible facemask, if anything, this further illustrates an opinion I’ve had in the past that more calls should be reviewable. If that was the case, the final play would have been taken to the replay process and they would have called facemask.
Do I believe that the referee intentionally screwed the Packers? No. This is simple incompetence (missing the helmet-to-helmet hit) and bad luck (being out of position for the facemask). It’s just a tough pill to swallow for Packer fans to have the officials decide such a great game.
I’m sure all Cardinals (and Vikings) fans will now point out that there were calls earlier in the game that went Green Bay’s way, but before you spout off, put yourself in Packer Nation’s position. If this were Kurt Warner who suffered a helmet-to-helmet hit and facemask that weren’t called, and the Packers won this way, how would you feel?
The organization and its fans shouldn’t place blame on the refs in this case. The offense got off to a slow start and, outside of a couple of plays (Charles Woodson’s forced fumble and a crucial stop in the fourth quarter), the defense played horribly all day. If Rodgers doesn’t turn the ball over on the first possession or the defense plays a little better, there’s a great chance that Green Bay moves on. The Packers squandered plenty of opportunities to win this game, but still — it’s a shame to have the referee slam the door shut with two no-calls in overtime.
Now it’s time for Packer fans to move on and start rooting hard for whoever plays the Vikings. Minnesota fans seem awfully smug this morning, but they need to know that the whole Favre escapade won’t be worth it if the Vikings don’t make it to the Super Bowl.
Go Cowboys! (Man, it kills me to say that.)
Photo from fOTOGLIF
