BALTIMORE, Maryland November 30, 2014 - Are the NFL officials this totally pathetic, or is something more sinister afoot? I used to laugh at people who thought there was a conspiracy when their team was always on the losing end of a bad call by a boneheaded NFL official. Now, I'm sounding like one who is starting to wonder. That would be because I am starting to wonder. Are officials, consciously or unconsciously, punishing the Ravens because of their [wrongly] perceived role in the Ray Rice controversy? I mean, one could see why the league doesn't want the Ravens getting a lot of positive hype in the upcoming playoffs. The best way to keep that from happening is for the Ravens not to make the playoffs. Aw shucks, this can't be happening, can it? Can it?
The Ravens just "lost" to the Chargers by one point in Baltimore after San Diego got a gift TD from from the refs in the first half - a mistake the boneheads even overlooked on replay - and then gift-wrapped another TD as time ran out in the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter boffo mistake was so ironic that it strained the credulity of even the biggest backer of NFL referees. And the CBS in-studio expert - a former ref - who tried to explain away another clear error in rule interpretation was immediately and rightly excoriated by Dan Fouts, the former NFL QB who was the CBS analyst for the game. This was the first time in weeks that I didn't turn the TV sound off and listen to the radio. Dan Fouts is that honest and insightful. Here is a recapitulation of the major mistakes made by today's officials in order of their occurrence:
A. First Half, Ravens leading, 10-0. A pass from Phillip Rivers to Keanan Allen is ruled a TD catch by the on-field ref. But the replay shows Allen never had control of the ball and allowed it to hit the ground and roll back up his ribs as he struggled to control it. Even when shown the obvious miscue by the receiver on replay, which would have made the pass incomplete and forced the Chargers to try a FG, the call was not overturned. Incredible. Cheap. And as Wrong as wrong can be. At the time the call occurred, Credible and Incisive wondered whether it had missed a change in the rules that made it legal for teams playing the Ravens to make "virtual" catches that counted for touchdowns, even when official replays show that the catch was not made.
B. Joe Flacco throws to Torey Smith in the endzone, but Smith is clearly interfered with in the very back corner of the endzone, and as a direct result of the interference, Smith cannot catch the accurate pass. The interference call is correctly made, but the ball is placed at the six-yard-line instead of the one. The in-studio expert tries to say that the interference was called on a play upfield. If there was, in fact, another one upfield, no one besides the in-studio dude saw it, and even so, the one everybody, including the ref, saw was in the back of the endzoone. When pass interference by the defense occurs in the endzone, the ball, by rule, is placed at the one-yard-line. Really incredible. Very Cheap. Really really pathetic. From the six, a variety of running plays by the Ravens gets the ball inside the one, but the Ravens have to settle for a FG. The refs made the exact same error later in the game, placing a ball at the six yard line when the interference occurred well into the endzone, but this time the Ravens scored a TD anyway.
[We will not recite a variety of really bad calls that occur between Bad Call B and Bad Call C, including one call on Raven Offensive lineman Kelechi Osemele that was totally preposteros. In the course of blocking on a pass play, Osemele's hand literally grazed the face mask of the man he was blocking. The long completion by the Ravens was nullified and they were penalized 10 yards. The rotten call caused the Ravens to settle for a field goal. Nor will we delve into the most effective way that officials work their will on a team, which was on full display yesterday. The Ravens have outstanding pass rushers, and in the first quarter yesterday, they were getting to Rivers on a regular basis. Then it stopped. Why? The Chargers started holding openly and obviously. And so the Chargers, who block all day for a pocket passer who often takes his time to get a throw off, are called for just one holding penalty. One one play, the Ravens Pernell McPhee was literally turned around by a hold, but wasn't permitted to pull out of the hold even though his back was to the QB. Swish that one around for a second. McPhee was held so tightly that even when turned completely around and trying to actually back away from the block, the offensive lineman will not let go. And why should he, since holding wasn't being called. One hold the whole game even though the pocket passer is lingering in the pocket all day. On a play when Terrell Suggs sacked Rivers, the ref blew the whistle with Suggs laying on top of Rivers. A Charger offensive lineman lay next to Suggs with both arms wrapped tightly around Suggs' legs. Now the officials will say that on that one play they didn't call holding because Suggs sacked the QB despite the hold. Really? What about all of the other plays. Watch any five consecutive offensive plays by the Chargers and you will find at least three, and usually five to ten obvious holds. For the game, one hold called on the Chargers.]
C. On the final desperation drive by the Chargers, Rivers throws again into the endzone. The receiver and the defender - the Ravens' Anthony Levine - battle for the pop-up pass that is descending with Levine on the inside and in position to intercept. Allen puts an arm on Levine's shoulder and holds him down. It was at least three times as obvious and five times as egregious as the offensive interference actually called on the Ravens' Steve Smith, Sr. a few weeks back when his incredible catch against the Bengals was nullified, stealing a hard-earned victory from the Ravens. Fouts, a former Charger, exclaimed as the crew in the booth waited to see exactly what the officials were calling, that "they are calling this on Allen." Wrong, Dan. The penalty was called on Levine, and it was a terrible travesty of a call. Levine did nothing illegal and, in fact, would have intercepted the pass had Allen not willfully held him down and pushed him away.
As hard to believe as it seems, it got worse for the Ravens. The ball was placed on their one. How did they get the ball placement right on this occurrence after getting it wrong twice before to the detriment of the Ravens? On the first play Rivers throws to Allen, who scampers in for the TD. Levine was trying to cover Allen, but well before Allen caught the ball, another Charger smashed into Levine and took him out of the play. It was another obvious instance of offensive pass interference against the Chargers, and it wasn't called. Unbelievable. But don't take my word on any of this. Look for yourself.
On the NFL website, by the way, you will have to be a detective to find the play in question at the end. I just watched the "discussion" of the game, by four so-called experts, but heard no mention of a call that the CBS analyst saw the exact opposite of the way it was called. If this was a real league where the main focus of game officials was getting the call correct, you'd have thought the officials would have reviewed the travails the Ravens have had with boneheaded officiating. How in the world so-called professional officials can call the play with Levine and Allen the way they did in the wake of the God-awful call against the Ravens in the Bengal game is totally baffling. If Steven Smith committed offensive interference, then Keanan Allen committed a mugging.
Fans will still watch their beloved Ravens. Over 70,000 have already paid for tickets for every one of the remaining home games. The NFL will take their money without battin an eye. But they will not even attempt to explain how the Ravens could have lost the Bengal game and the Charger game. They can't. That is, unless they come clean and admit that the Ravens lost because the game officials made atrocious calls. Even if they admit the calls were wrong, they won't try to explain why it happened. They won't tell us what, if any, communications took place between the league and the officials involved.
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