NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino said that the pass interference that wasn’t called on Dallas Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens was a judgment call, but another non-call bothered him.
Blandino said a holding should have been called on Hitchens earlier in the play, a part of the play that hasn’t been brought up much in the endless debate since the Cowboys’ 24-20 win. That would have given the Lions a first down.
First, Blandino on whether Hitchens committed pass interference on Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew:
"You can debate if it's pass interference," Blandino said on NFL Network. "The defender is not playing the ball, that's the first thing the officials look for, but that's not pass interference by itself. You can face-guard in the NFL.
"Then we look to see, was there significant contact before the ball arrived that prevented Pettigrew from making a catch? I think it's a tight judgment call. When you watch the play, there's a left hand on the shoulder, does that materially restrict the receiver's ability to make the catch? One official, the back judge, felt it was. The head linesman had a different perspective."
Blandino said he would have called Hitchens for holding instead. Hitchens grabbed Pettigrew’s jersey after Pettigrew turned upfield, before the pass was released.
"There is a jersey grab," Blandino said. "When you see a jersey grab before the ball is thrown, that's defensive holding. Had the officials recognized that, we should have a foul down for that infraction."
Blandino also discussed another element on the play, which was receiver Dez Bryant coming on the field to argue the call. The fact that he didn't have his helmet on didn't matter; Blandino said the helmet-removal rule only applies to players in the game. It's not an automatic penalty for a player coming on the field as Bryant did, but the officials could have given him an unsportsmanlike penalty, but that too was a judgment call.
"It very well could have," Blandino said. "But in the official’s view, they felt it wasn’t (a penalty). They gave him some leeway. But we would have supported a flag there, because players coming off the bench in that manner, that’s not something we condone. But it’s not an automatic penalty, there’s some discretion and the officials felt it didn’t warrant a penalty."
The coaches, not surprisingly, had differing views on the controversial play.
“It’s a controversial call and I think without question it was one that was probably not officiated correctly, in my estimation,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said in a press conference that was aired on NFL Network. “But nevertheless, I do think in this day and age, when we have technology that can take out the human factor in certain key situation in big games that we should use that technology to do that. To set the record straight and take the human error out of it.”
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said: “We’re talking about the wrong stuff. We’re talking about officiating after a game. I’d like to think I’d say that when the call goes against us, and certainly say it when the call goes for us. There are a lot of calls in a game that impact the game and we don’t try to get caught up in those as coaches and players.”
Blandino explained that the back judge initially made the call, but the head linesman had a different vantage point. He said the head linesman didn't trump the back judge, but it was the final call of the official who first threw the flag.
"He obviously took the information, thought about it some more, and told the referee he was going to pick up his flag," Blandino said. "Ultimately the official that throws the flag has to make up his mind, is he going to stay with it or is he going to pick it up?"
A lot of controversy would probably have been avoided had the officials done a better job on the call itself. Referee Pete Morelli announced pass interference, then he announced there was no penalty. The way that was botched ramped up the outrage.
The NFL would have rather had the officials do a better job with the mechanics of actually making the call.
"We'd prefer they get together before the initial announcement, then we can discuss it, make one announcement that there was no flag for pass interference," Blandino said.
- - - - - - -
Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1xLtup3
