Jack-Face Morelli Explains

[biggunsbob]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/



Referee Pete Morelli explains controversial non-call in Lions-Cowboys

Posted by Mike Florio on January 4, 2015, 10:29 PM EST

Morelli
Getty Images

With three wild-card games that lacked controversy, the last game of the weekend had enough for all four, and then some. After the Cowboys-Lions game, referee Pete Morelli explained the decision to pick up the flag in what appeared to be an obvious case of pass interference in a key moment as Detroit was driving in Dallas territory with a 20-17 lead.

On third and one, Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens appeared to interfere with Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew. The flag was thrown, the foul was called, and then it all just went away.

?The back judge threw his flag for defensive pass interference,? Morelli told pool reporter Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com. ?We got information from another official from a different angle that thought the contact was minimal and didn?t warrant pass interference. He thought it was face guarding.?

Who thought it was face guarding?

?The head lineman,? Morelli said.

Asked what Morelli saw, he said, ?It?s not my responsibility. I?m a hundred miles away.?

Morelli pointed out that face guarding, which happens when a defender uses his arms to deliberately obstruct the receiver?s ability to see the ball, isn?t a foul in the NFL.

?It is a penalty in college but not professional football,? Morelli said.

Asked whether he should have waited to announce the call until the head linesman had a chance to chime in, Morelli said, ?Probably, yes. . . . The information came and then the officials got together a little bit later, after it was given to me, the first information. It would have probably been smoother if we got together.?

Morelli said the head linesman had the better view of the play. Regardless, replays showed that Hitchens did more than face guard Pettigrew. Some have suggested that Pettigrew committed interference of his own. Either way, a mistake was made ? and the mistake made by Morelli in announcing the call before wiping it out compounded the first one.

Coincidentally, NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino will be a guest on the first PFT Live radio show on Monday. The play probably will be discussed. A little.

 

[biggunsbob]

F stands for FIXED...

 

[biggunsbob]

They said there was no contact LMAO ....

Well at least I was wrong about face guarding LOL.....
How about Mugging Jack-face....

 

[sggatecl]

How the fuck does the linesmen have a better look at that than the back judge? Fuck off.

 

[biggunsbob]

More from ESPN
Jack-face says penalty not warranted...

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story...it-lions-wild-card-game?ex_cid=espnapi_public

 

[Mitchrapp]

When did face guarding or whatever they call it not a foul in the NFL?

 

[cheeno]

When did face guarding or whatever they call it not a foul in the NFL?

Year or two. I think two.

 

[biggunsbob]

Face guarding aside...

Pettigrew was mugged... Jack Face can say all he wants but his crew was awful today.. Just another heartbreaking way for a Detroit team to lose a game.. Non call changed the whole game... Fix.... The league really does protect certain teams...

 

[Mitchrapp]

Year or two. I think two.

Hmm, didn't realize.

 

[mhughes0021]

he had a hold of his jersey for like 10 yards lol. this fucker should never see an nfl field again after these fucking retarded comments...

 

[biggunsbob]

Nope he should not....

 

[inkfreq]

Multiple "experts" have said there were as many as four penalties on the play and after the play with Dez on the field.

The Lions should have had the ball on the Dallas 30 and then the 15 after Dez decided to play Judge Judy.

Holding, PI, facemasking... Take your pick. It was a momentum changer and it did effect the game dramatically.

We often say one call doesn't decide the game, but clearly, in rare cases, it does.

 

[dubbsco]

Who's to say that if the Lions get the call that the next play they throw a pick? Or fumble? There's no way to determine how things would play out.

The call was horrible, and hurt them a ton. But scoring three points in an entire half of football, when you were moving the ball at will in the 1st half is inexcusable. Also not having the guts to go for it on 4th and 1 is pretty sad.

 

[RedeemerKid]

Multiple "experts" have said there were as many as four penalties on the play and after the play with Dez on the field.

The Lions should have had the ball on the Dallas 30 and then the 15 after Dez decided to play Judge Judy.

Holding, PI, facemasking... Take your pick. It was a momentum changer and it did effect the game dramatically.

We often say one call doesn't decide the game, but clearly, in rare cases, it does.

We often hear that one call doesn't change the outcome. But it can and in this case it is likely that it did.

People will point to a short list of things the Lions still could have done differently, or executed better in order to win the game (get the yard on the next play with 4th and 1, don't take the delay penalty, don't shank the punt, make one more defensive play somewhere, etc....).

But to me, that just means that they could have played better. And that will always be true about any team in any game, win or lose except for a "perfect game" which in football you'll never see.

Reality is, the Lions played well enough to win but had a monumentally bad officiating decision take the game away from them in the blink of an eye.

They got the call right (DPI). The announced the call on the field. Then without any explanation in unprecedented fashion, they changed the ruling. That's like calling ball four, putting the runner on first and then changing the call to strike three and sending the batter to the dugout. And not calling a penalty on Dez is like allowing the defense to also tag first for a double play after a runner walked to 2nd.

It's just unheard of. Once a call is made, announced, and yardage is measured off, move on. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, right or wrong.

 

[brewer229]

Multiple "experts" have said there were as many as four penalties on the play and after the play with Dez on the field.

The Lions should have had the ball on the Dallas 30 and then the 15 after Dez decided to play Judge Judy.

Holding, PI, facemasking... Take your pick. It was a momentum changer and it did effect the game dramatically.

We often say one call doesn't decide the game, but clearly, in rare cases, it does.

The facemasking would of been on Pettigrew. If everything was called by the book. The holding, PI, facemasking would of all offset. Then 15 Yards for Dez after the play.

1st and 10 at the 31 would be the correct outcome.

 

[grandy]

I look at it this way, the Lions had a chance to win on the final drive of the game and they failed.

Had they succeeded, there's probably much less talk about the non-call.

You can argue about momentum or potential outcomes of that drive, but the non-call did not prevent them from winning.

6 points in 3 quarters is unforgivable, especially against an unimpressive Dallas D.

 

[tonyballs]

he had a hold of his jersey for like 10 yards lol. this fucker should never see an nfl field again after these fucking retarded comments...

Makes me want to break things

 

[jared]

The hold on Ansah during Romo's winning TD throw was some wonderful salt in the wound.

 

[tonyballs]

Who's to say that if the Lions get the call that the next play they throw a pick? Or fumble? There's no way to determine how things would play out.

The call was horrible, and hurt them a ton. But scoring three points in an entire half of football, when you were moving the ball at will in the 1st half is inexcusable. Also not having the guts to go for it on 4th and 1 is pretty sad.

It has nothing to do with scoring 3 points. Lions were driving at that point and got that taken away from them. And them punting was an ok call. Top notch D to fall back on. Martin shanked the punt .... can't blame Caldwell for that.

Bottom line ....Lions were stripped of an oppurtunity to put the game away. Picked up flag, Dez running on the field with no helmet acting like a fucking lunatic and getting nothing hurt the team. Instead it was 4th and1 at midfield instead of 1st and 10 at the Cowboys 15. Do the math. At worse the Lions kick a FG and go up by 6. That possibly changes Dallas' offensive gameplan

 

[tonyballs]

The hold on Ansah during Romo's winning TD throw was some wonderful salt in the wound.

Ansah and Suh were mugged all day. I know you can't call holding all the time but it was so blatant.