Tune into WBZ-FM this afternoon for four hours of the above subject.

At least in that time period, Mike Felger will have someone on his side. Last night, he was on an island with Gerry Austin as the only people in America who thought that the right decision at the end of last night’s game was to pick up the flag for interference or defensive holding as Rob Gronkowski endeavored to come back for a game winning TD pass.

You’re absolutely right Mike – the refs made the right call picking up that flag. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just hopelessly in the bag for the Patriots!

I mean, wow. That was unbelievable.

Not since the Fail Mary pass by the Seahawks last season – in a game called by replacement officials – have we seen a call so unanimously panned as this one.

I mean seriously…when you’ve got almost all of ESPN, plus Mike Pereira, Peter King, ProFootballTalk, Mike Freeman, Pete Prisco and scores of others who have absolutely no good feelings towards the Patriots saying it was the wrong call, something is up.

But Felger stood firm on the postgame last night, insisting that such a “ticky-tack” play should not be called. Of course, Felger was totally in favor of the PI call on Devin McCourty, in which the Carolina receiver hooked his arm and held it to his chest and then flopped to the ground.

That last play sort of goes against the other growing storyline, which is that New England didn’t “deserve” to win the game because they couldn’t stop the Panthers when it counted.

The polar opposite of Felger and Mazz is Gresh and Zo this morning. On fire.

Of course, there are some who just can’t help to cry for attention. The Sun Chronicle, the self-appointed conscience of all things objective and on-the-level, not to mention duty-bound to call out the Kraft family when necessary, tweeted the following this morning:

sun-chron

Strangely, the Tweets were later deleted. Not very Fearless.

Get all the homer coverage at PatriotsLinks.com.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

15 thoughts on “Whiny Patriots Fans Can’t Handle Correct Call”

  1. I guess today is a “sports radio day”.

    When something like this happens, I go to people who have no skin in the game. Local media: out. National media, mostly out, but pick who you listen to. (Sidebar: I find it funny who ESPN hires to “explain” ref stuff. The guy ESPN has on defended the Seahawks TD W3 last year on MNF. He’s as bad as Steve Jave or whomever ESPN has on to “explain” (justify) NBA ref calls. Go look up his dealings on the Donaghy stuff if you want to see how objective he is.)

    First, Dan Wetzel, who is pretty respected and I’d quote regardless,

    “If you’re confused, you aren’t alone.

    A number of NFL rules experts took to social media to declare that whole thing was an inaccurate mess. It starts with the fact that under Article 6 (a) of Rule 12 (Section 1) of the NFL rule book, Kuechly’s bear hug of Gronkowski qualified as defensive holding, not pass interference. As such, the catchability of the pass is not a factor in the infraction being called. So the original flag was wrong. The reversal may have been correct (if the ball was, indeed, uncatchable) but only because the penalty being reversed was incorrect to begin with. If they’d gotten the first one right, they may have still blown the second one. ”

    From: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/tom-brady-blows-up-and-bill-belichick-fumes-over-puzzling-non-penalty-in-loss-to-panthers-073900291.html

    2.) As a note, a Bills beat guy, @ByTimGraham:

    @ByTimGraham Only place where uncatchable
    provisions are specifically made in NFL rule book are for pass
    interference, not for defensive holding.

    @ByTimGraham Article 6: It’s defensive holding if a player grasps an eligible off player w/his hands or extends an arm or arms to cut off or encircle him

    3.) @footballzebras, big NFL ref site:

    Updated post: @RefereeJimD summarizes the “defensive pass interception” call http://refs.ws/53

    Both @RefereeJimD and @mikepereira, think it was BS.

    ————-

    We join the 49ers who get screwed on a call this week (Go and look at the hit on Brees that caused a fumble, nullifying a turnover that would have at least given the 49ers a chance to score a FG with little/no time left). What I find interesting is the line (Panthers -3) who were guaranteed a cover by that call. It’ll be interesting to see the media coverage. Some (Felger) already showed their hand, which is no surprise.

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  3. Umm, nope, can’t call defensive holding once pass is thrown. PI is the only possible call and it was overruled due to pass being uncatchable. Here’s why D holding can’t be called:

    Rule 8, Section 4, Article 7:
    If the quarterback or the receiver of the snap demonstrates no further intention to pass the ball (i.e., hands off or pitches the ball to another player,throws a forward or backward pass, loses possession of the ball by a muff that touches the ground or a fumble, or if he is tackled) the restrictions on the defensive team prohibiting illegal contact, an illegal cut block, or defensive holding against an offensive receiver will end.

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    1. Found one person I’d want to quote to support this:

      ‏@FO_ScottKacsmar Just watched it again. Ball was in the air before any of the meaningful contact happened, so defensive holding is not an option. PI only.

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    2. I think people are potentially misreading this particular section of the rulebook. While the exception clause says “throws a forward or backward pass”, I think the rule actually MEANS “completes a forward or backward pass”. Because all the other situations in the exception are situations where (1) the QB has transferred possession to another player, or (2) the ball is live due to an unintentional loss of possession (muffed snap; fumble). Which makes perfect sense — because once a forward pass is no longer legally possible, receivers lose the protection of the PI/holding/contact rules and become blockers.

      In any event, that rule is a moot point — because defensive holding appears TWICE, in two separate places, in the NFL rulebook. The cited Rule 8 involves passing and pass-related situations. However, there are also the player conduct rules of Rule 12, specifically Rule 12, Section 1, Article 6 — which is the REAL defensive holding rule. And that rule says that a defender cannot block a non-runner offensive player by tackling or holding them, unless (a) the offensive player is trying to obstruct them from going after the runner (i.e. they’re blocking), (b) the offensive player is directly blocking the defender, (c) if there’s a loose ball and the defender is going after it, or (d) on a tipped pass.

      The Rule 8 rule is a more strict rule — the defender cannot even grasp the offensive player’s jersey under Rule 8 — that applies in certain passing circumstances. The Rule 12 rule is the general case — a defender cannot tackle or hold an offensive player unless they’re being blocked off of a legal attempt to tackle a runner or grab a loose ball. Both are “defensive holding”. And the Gronk play was clearly a Rule 12 violation, and as such should have been a defensive hold.

      This is simple logic. By the definition above, a situation where a fly pattern was run, with the ball thrown out that way, but where a crossing receiver who was not targeted was flat-out tackled by a defensive back while the ball was in the air, would not draw a penalty. And that’s simply not the case. I’ve seen dozens of correctly called defensive holding penalties where the call was against a DB who was beaten badly and just flat-out grabbed a guy flying past him while the ball was being thrown to someone else. (Side note: those DBs tend to not last long in the NFL.) So this “exception” that was being cited rang untrue to me. I just needed to look up the rule.

      The moral of the story (for the media): ALWAYS read the fine print before jumping to an analytical conclusion. When the rule you’re relying on says “See Rule 12 Section 1 Article 6”, GO LOOK AT RULE 12 SECTION 1 ARTICLE 6!!!!

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  4. I went looking for a national perspective this morning so I put on NFL Network. Only Sean Merriman thought there shouldn’t have been a penalty. No surprise when you think about his past with the Patriots and, well, he’s a defensive player.

    On the way to work I put on Sirius NFL Radio, and Bob Papa was in the school of thought that PI MAY have been able to be waved off but not holding/illegal contact. His partner, Amani Toomer, however, said that it was no penalty because Gronk “gave up on the play.” According to Mr. Toomer, who clearly was trying to make this a debate, Gronk never made an attempt to go back and get the ball and if he was in the Patriots’ locker room he’d wonder if Gronk really has his heart in the game. If I wasn’t 5 minutes from work, I would have called in to ask if he really believed that. I’ll be interested to hear what guys on later in the day like Rich Gannon, Pat Kirwan, and Jim Miller think. The interesting one will be if Keith Bullock is on later. He has had no issues constantly bringing up Spy Gate and other things whenever the Patriots are embroiled in controversy.

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    1. PI is only possible call once ball is thrown. Unless contact occurs before pass is in air, you can’t call defensive holding.

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    1. Here’s what accounts for “show prep” for Felger, all undertaken as he’s planking his overpaid butt into his studio chair. First, he determines what’s the frequently self-invented, sometimes real issue of the day. Second, if it’s a self-invented issue, he’ll beat it into the ground for the entire show, if not week or sometimes months on end (e.g., cap is crap; the Jets do things the right way). If it’s a real issue, like the call on MNF, he’ll always and automatically take the side of what he feels will piss off Boston fans the most. Yup, that’s some in-depth and quality perspective, Mikey. Fraud. Tool. DB.

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  8. Loved hearing the end of Chatham using actual facts with Salk and Holley. I like hearing Salk acting butt hurt in the aftermath. Analysis vs whatever it is Salk brings.

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  9. If you want a LOL, if Felger and Mazz defending the call afternoon didn’t yield enough, even the league is now “defending” this, as they did with the replacement ref debacle last year:

    Asked on NFL Network if the officials were wrong not to flag the Panthers for pass interference, Blandino answered, “I wouldn’t say that they were wrong.”

    “They used proper mechanics,” Blandino said. “They got together after the play. They determined that in their judgment the contact occurred simultaneous with the ball being intercepted and that’s why the officials did what they did.”

    PFT mentions,

    “That’s a different explanation than referee Clete Blakeman offered after the game. What Blakeman said is that the flag was picked up because the pass wasn’t catchable, not because the restriction occurred simultaneously with the ball being touched.”

    These people sound like they’re giving sworn testimony before Congress now..

    http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/11/19/dean-blandino-i-wouldnt-say-the-officials-got-it-wrong/

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    1. And Foxwoods lost the vote by nearly a 2-1 margin. Classic. I wonder how much they paid Dennis for his positive influence over the voters of Milford. Although it’s not all good news: the lack of new competition likely means Twin River won’t go bankrupt for good, and take Fred and Steve’s with it.

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