News: DMN: NFL VP officiating Dean Blandino on whether Dez caught the ball, running into Cowboys

[percyhoward]

Blandino said that it all came down to either fully extending the arm, or reaching with two hands so that the football move could be "obvious enough." Of course, there never was any rule about a reach requiring two hands (players reach out and break the plane with the ball in one hand all the time), and if Dez had fully extended his arm that wouldn't have gotten the ball any closer to the goal line -- he was falling towards the pylon.

 

[LandryFan]

Set aside "football move" for a moment. Did the ball ever hit the ground? It appeared to me it might have, but I never saw an angle that I think could be considered indisputable.

You can't set the "football move" aside. If Dez made a football move (which he did, but blandino overturned the call because, in his opinion, it wan't "enough" of a football move), then it doesn't matter if the ball touched the ground because all elements required for a catch had already been met.

 

[Clove]

The bigger question should be, why not just throw to Beasley coming across the middle for the first?

 

[LandryFan]

The language used at the time was a football move, not time.

Diving and reaching the ball for the goal line is as clear of a football move as there is.

EXACTLY! blandino's judgment that it wan't "enough of a football move" is the very definition of NOT having indisputable visual evidence to overturn the call on the field. That's my gripe on the whole thing, in a nutshell.

 

[4lifecowboy]

The bigger question should be, why not just throw to Beasley coming across the middle for the first?

Because it was a chance to shift the momentum and create an NFL moment. That's why they make the big bucks!

 

[YosemiteSam]

You can never find enough dead horses to beat.

Dig up dem bones!

 

[Clove]

Because it was a chance to shift the momentum and create an NFL moment. That's why they make the big bucks!

That's why they went home.

 

[AdamJT13]

I agree. It HAS to be stated when the rule says that once the player advances the football it is deemed a catch.

The rule was not ambiguous and pretty clear cut.

I have always thought this boiled down to the league thinking that the Calvin Johnson rule applied, but didn't know the actual rule because in Calvin Johnson's case, he was in the end zone and thus could not advance the football.

And instead of just admitting that they didn't know the rule, they have tried to cover it up and thus changed the rule and now Blandino is adding 'time' to his spin job.

If they would just say that three steps with control is a catch, that would solve a lot. Or make it four steps if three isn't enough -- but at least have a minimum number of steps needed to make it an automatic catch in every case.

 

[TNCowboy]

You can't set the "football move" aside. If Dez made a football move (which he did, but blandino overturned the call because, in his opinion, it wan't "enough" of a football move), then it doesn't matter if the ball touched the ground because all elements required for a catch had already been met.

It doesn't matter if he made no football move or made 12 football moves, if they can't determine indisputably that the ball touched the ground, which they could not.

 

[LandryFan]

It doesn't matter if he made no football move or made 12 football moves, if they can't determine indisputably that the ball touched the ground, which they could not.

You're could very well be right about the ball touching the ground. All I'm saying is that that element should have never come into play on the call. Dez made a football move by extending for the goal line (he had already completed the other elements of a catch...two feet down and control). The catch process had been completed at that point and it shouldn't have mattered if the ball touched the ground. Blandino ruled that Dez didn't make "enough of a football move" which meant Dez had to maintain control of the ball the rest of the way. Balndino was wrong to overturn the call on the field based on his opinion of "not enough of a football move". He may also have been wrong about having indisputable evidence of the ball touching the ground, but the completed catch process should have rendered that a moot point.

 

[blindzebra]

There was no judgement involved with the overturn, it was a deliberate act to appear to not favor Dallas...the same thing happened on the Cobb catch that gave them a FG before the half. The party bus and the controversy in the Detroit game is why the catch was overturned because there was no rule in place to back up the overturn. Everything since has been altering the rules in an effort to cover up the fact that Blandino abused his position.

 

[plymkr]

I'm still pissed about that call.
I hope Dez is seething for revenge on that BS call

No kidding man, I hope he just comes in and blows up. Every catch he takes the ball home with him ao there's no questions asked.

 

[Joe Realist]

As much as Dez got robbed, Cowboys may have lost anyway. We will never know, but revenge should be served.

 

[DejectedFan1996]

They had a Dez Bryant career highlight special on TV last night. Of course it was amazing.

But towards the end they had that Green Bay game. Lots of players were micked up. Seemed like all of the Packers' players thought it was clearly a catch, but they thought the debate was whether or not he scored or was down on the one.

That play was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me. It had been building over time on how silly it can be to invest yourself into things you have no control over. I'm still obviously a very big sports fan (or I wouldn't spend valuable time on a silly site like this ) but it is permanently less so now than it once was.

Saw this myself and you're 100% correct in terms of the players.

The GB players thought it was either a catch or TD.

This really burns me to this day. I want the Cowboys to win this year just to make up for it. But it also hurts knowing Tony missed out on this opportunity to lead his team to a championship. You'll never convince me that we don't go back into Seattle and win. You'll never convince me we don't run all over NE's 17th ranked run defense. Tony was robbed.

The guy took epidural shots weekly...and for nothing...all because of Dean Blandino.

 

[percyhoward]

 

[bandfan]

For me at least, it seems that if you establish control to the satisfaction of the referee then time has already taken care of itself has it not?

 

[Ring6]

Plain and simple: it was a judgement call, and the ref closest to the play made the call, a catch.

Judgement calls are left to the refs on the field.

The overturning of the play was a breach of this rule, and should never have happened.

 

[nathanlt]

Asking Blandino's opinion on Dez's catch is like asking a fast food cashier for advice on open heart surgery. Except fast food cashiers are smart enough to decline to answer. Blandino is the type who would answer foolishly, and with confidence. As a fast food cashier is to performing open heart surgery, so is Blandino to making judgments on NFL officiating.

I hope Dez destroys the Packers on Sunday, Dez has plenty of reasons to want multiple TDs. I look forward to watching the Cowboys play every chance I get, but this Sunday is especially game worthy. It's gonna be great!

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

Watching the replay of the game on NFLN right now.....why do I put myself through things like this.

For the love of God that's a catch.

 

[dfense]

Watching the replay of the Cowboys/Packers 2014 playoff game, the one thing that really stuck out to me was how bad the Dallas defense was. Cowboys had a 21-13 lead and the defense let Rodgers go on three straight long drives. The D line was so bad. This year's D is so much better than then.