Dilfer on Sportscenter: "NFL Rule book is so convoluted"

[DallasEast]

I think the biggest factor of us losing was the end of the 1st half. There was less than a minute to play and we were up for a 45 yard field goal to go up 17-7. Then there was a 5 yard penalty that made it a 50 yarder. Bailey missed the kick and we gave them excellent field position. They scored and made it a 14-10 game. That's a 6 point swing. Not a big deal? How many points did we lose by? 5. They outscored us 16-7 in the second half. Had we went up 17-7, the final score would have been 24-23 for us.

Every miscue throughout the entire game factored into the loss. Let's include Murray's lackluster protection of the ball when he fumbled shortly after the Red Sea parted for him.

The safety would have been the only thing standing between him and the endzone. I am 99% certain Murray would have stiff armed him into the dirt.. with his injured hand...

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Agreed.

Again, we kept shooting ourselves.

So we can flail around, with our arms up in the air, shouting and hollering like teenage females, who's favorite singer, just left their favorite band, over the Refs all we want.

Fact is, we lost this game way before that call.

Yep. We've been doing it all season. There were a few games in the regular season that we won but came very close to losing. And those were games where we were the better team all 60 minutes. It shouldn't have come down to that. The Seahawks game comes to mind. We converted a big 4th down at the end of the game to later score and win. Everybody was too busy cheering about the win while I was thinking, "That's not a good sign. You have to correct that or it'll come back to bite us later in the season." Well, consider us bit. The story is Dallas got the good end of a call last week and the bad end of a call this week. Well, the story should be Dallas let two games get closer than they had to be. We saw all the other winners take care of business yesterday. But for some reason these nail biter, down to the wire games are in our DNA.

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

There is no way that play can be ruled a fumble. The rules don't support that. The two possibilities are incomplete and complete/down by contact. The reason it can't be a fumble is for it to be a fumble it has to be ruled a completed catch. if its a completed catch Dez is down by contact before the ball comes out, the trip and his knee is down prior to the ball coming lose. The incompletion from the process rule is saying there's no completion, so therefore there's no fumble possible because Dez didn't have the ball. Basically Steratore made the mess by reviewing a judgement call and using a judgement call to over turn it.

True. And after watching replays this morning, it looks like Dez was down before the ball made contact with the ground.

 

[yimyammer]

No guarantee Dallas wins there if Dez's catch had stood and we scored, the problem in my opinion is that football fans everywhere were robbed of perhaps an even greater finish (regardless of who you wanted to win) and I think its horrendous that an amazing athletic play like Dez's catch was taken from him (& fans everywhere). I think part of it was due to a lack of understanding of Dez's athletic ability to actually have the wherewithal and ability to stretch for the TD with the ball in his control.

c'est la vie

 

[Derinyar]

True. And after watching replays this morning, it looks like Dez was down before the ball made contact with the ground.

Dez was down by contact before the ball hit the turf. The ruling is that didn't matter because he never caught the ball. That's what I have a huge problem with. This is really begining to feel like the No True Scotsman fallacy.

 

[Frozen700]

Yep. We've been doing it all season. There were a few games in the regular season that we won but came very close to losing. And those were games where we were the better team all 60 minutes. It shouldn't have come down to that. The Seahawks game comes to mind. We converted a big 4th down at the end of the game to later score and win. Everybody was too busy cheering about the win while I was thinking, "That's not a good sign. You have to correct that or it'll come back to bite us later in the season." Well, consider us bit. The story is Dallas got the good end of a call last week and the bad end of a call this week. Well, the story should be Dallas let two games get closer than they had to be. We saw all the other winners take care of business yesterday. But for some reason these nail biter, down to the wire games are in our DNA.

Agreed brother.

 

[jrumann59]

It sucks bro, but I think we just have to move on.

We keep letting teams hang around, with turnovers and poor execution. You can't behave that way, and expect to keep winning.

As easy as it is to blame the refs. We need to look on the inside. Murray cost us that game more than anything. Sure he had a great season, but he screwed us.

Without that fumble we might not be having this discussion.

Bailey makes the FG in the first half we would have lined up for a FG on the 4th and 2 and if that was made squeak out a 1 point victory.

 

[khiladi]

Trent Dilfer just said it perfectly. Although I don't have word for word what he said, in essence it was as follows:
We should be celebrating the incredible awareness of Tony Romo to throw a catchable pass on 4th and 2 and the amazing athleticism of Dez Bryant to catch that ball. Those plays are what sporting events are all about and should be rewarded. Instead we are discussing how a clearly caught ball was deemed not caught. The NFL rule book has become so convoluted due to the NFL and the competition committee and it is their fault these bad rules are made, not the officials. When he walks the field before MNF officials' heads are spinning before a game because there are so many loopholes and things in the rule book they don't even understand themselves. The league is worse than it was 10 years ago due to this, not better.
.

What makes it worse is that they overturned a catch via REPLAY on what, one would argue is convoluted rules. If anything is disputable, you can't overturn a play.

 

[KC10Sooner]

There is no way that play can be ruled a fumble. The rules don't support that. The two possibilities are incomplete and complete/down by contact. The reason it can't be a fumble is for it to be a fumble it has to be ruled a completed catch. if its a completed catch Dez is down by contact before the ball comes out, the trip and his knee is down prior to the ball coming lose. The incompletion from the process rule is saying there's no completion, so therefore there's no fumble possible because Dez didn't have the ball. Basically Steratore made the mess by reviewing a judgement call and using a judgement call to over turn it.

This is exactly right! If the ruling on the field had been incomplete, I can see the call standing, but just will never understand how they overturned it. No way there was conclusive evidence that he didn't make a "football move".

 

[camelboy]

The only one I listen and trust in TV (Other thank Michael Irvin ) is Trent Dilfer. The smartest guy of all football

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Say what you will , Dilfer got his ring primarily because of his D, but that said he's one who calls it like it is, and know the risk reward of that 4th down game end throw...

Dilfer is one of the few that doesn't hold back when he speaks. He isn't afraid of the NFLs repercussions.
Howie Long is another one. After the game he was questioning who ever the fool ref was that was on the phone and you could hear that guy was getting irritated with Howie.

The rule is what it is and like most rules it's the interpretation of the ref at the time, like yesterday.
The ref two feet from the play signaled catch. A guy in NY had probably ten angles and slow motion to FIND a way to reverse it.
That is just bad for the sport.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

True. And after watching replays this morning, it looks like Dez was down before the ball made contact with the ground.

If he doesn't make a football move it doesn't matter. You have to retain the ball through the fall. He tried to stretch the ball out.

 

[khiladi]

Agreed.

Again, we kept shooting ourselves.

So we can flail around, with our arms up in the air, shouting and hollering like teenage females, who's favorite singer, just left their favorite band, over the Refs all we want.

Fact is, we lost this game way before that call.

No we didn't. We made mistakes, which we overcame and the last drive, we also overcame a 4th and 2. And we got robbed.

 

[Frozen700]

No we didn't. We made mistakes, which we overcame and the last drive, we also overcame a 4th and 2. And we got robbed.

Still...

It should not have came down to that play.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Every miscue throughout the entire game factored into the loss. Let's include Murray's lackluster protection of the ball when he fumbled shortly after the Red Sea parted for him.

The safety would have been the only thing standing between him and the endzone. I am 99% certain Murray would have stiff armed him into the dirt.. with his injured hand...

This is true but any score can be a huge momentum swing. I think we score on the Dez play we change the game. I think that is what our defense has fed off all year. Big plays by the offense pumped them up and you can play differently.

 

[mahoneybill]

No we didn't. We made mistakes, which we overcame and the last drive, we also overcame a 4th and 2. And we got robbed.

Even my rabid Eagle fan relatives are using the word " robbed"

 

[sweetness0986]

This is true but any score can be a huge momentum swing. I think we score on the Dez play we change the game. I think that is what our defense has fed off all year. Big plays by the offense pumped them up and you can play differently.

Agreed. Hard to speculate what would have happened but the result of the "non catch" gave the Packers good field position too.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

Still...

It should not have came down to that play.

Isn't that what football between to good teams is? Inches here and a play there?

 

[sbark]

This is true but any score can be a huge momentum swing. I think we score on the Dez play we change the game. I think that is what our defense has fed off all year. Big plays by the offense pumped them up and you can play differently.

yup, a thousand diff probabilities......maybe Marinelli cooks up a blitz on G.Bay 4th down that finally gets to Rogers.....The thing in sports is to let that possibility happen, just as much as the possibility of G.Bay and Rogers executing a final game winning drive

We'd all rather loose in that manner ........than have a opinion on a opinion remove the possibility.

 

[Frozen700]

Isn't that what football between to good teams is? Inches here and a play there?

Yes, but not when you clearly have the upper hand on the other team, and have them on their heels.

A game like that, I guess you are referring to Cowboys vs Broncos, where there were not many mistakes, just a good ole shoot out, nobody had a clear edge throughout the game. Came down to the final moments.

Not this game though, we had them dead, dead in the water, blood in the water with sharks infesting it. Only problem is, we were the sharks, and we ran. While the bloody human, found the strength to get his energy up, and the hell out of dodge.