Ed Hochuli responds

WoodysGirl

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Ed Hochuli is very frowny after the disaster in Denver

By MJD

According to NFL supervisor of officials Mike Pereira, Ed Hochuli is "devastated" at what went down in Denver on Sunday. If you missed it, Hochuli made an inexplicable mental gaffe--I won't call it a "blown call" or "missed call" because I think it goes a little beyond that--that almost directly cost the Chargers a loss against the Broncos. From Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune:

No one, it appears, is taking the mistake and its ramifications harder than Hochuli.​


"He's devastated," said Mike Pereira, the NFL's supervisor of officials. "... I was talking to Ed within 10 minutes after the game was over, and he was sick. He's still sick (yesterday).​


"Everybody works so hard and wants to be perfect in a game you're not likely to ever be perfect. I've talked to him three times. He's really struggling with the fact he made such a bad call."​
Hochuli's also manning up and taking his e-mail lumps. His e-mail address isn't hard to find with a simple Yahoo! search, and he's been bombarded with hate mail. And still, he's replying to everyone. Someone relayed the following reply from Hochuli to a message board at the San Diego Union Tribute.

I'm getting hundreds of emails – hate mail – but I'm responding to it all. People deserve a response.


You can rest assured that nothing anyone can say can make me feel worse than I already feel about my mistake on the fumble play. You have no idea ...


Affecting the outcome of a game is a devastating feeling. Officials strive for perfection – I failed miserably. Although it does no good to say it, I am very, very sorry.


Ed Hochuli
No one was more upset about the call than me, I promise you. I was driving to a friend's house after the game, and had to stop at a local convenience store so I could throw a child-like fit and kick inanimate objects. I said things about Ed Hochuli in the hours after the loss that could've gotten me arrested. Eventually, my grief took the form of a letter from Ed's dog.

But knowing now that Hochuli feels so bad about it, it sort of takes some of the venom out of me. It's hard to hate a guy who knows he screwed up and feels bad about it.

It's just so hard to understand why he blew that whistle. A ball went flying backwards out of the quarterback's hand. In what way would that lead anyone to believe that a play should be blown dead? Why would it even occur to him to blow the whistle?

It's not like Hochuli missed a hold, or botched a pass interference call. I rarely complain about mistakes like that. There are so many shades of gray on every play, and there's so much to see. Judgment calls will be blown, and that, I've learned to live with.

This was different, though. Hochuli wasn't making a judgment. There's no way he could look at what Jay Cutler did from any angle and conclude that he threw a forward pass, any more than you could watch Ryan Seacrest wax his chest and then conclude that mashed potatoes are delicious. It just couldn't happen.

Anyway, the man feels bad about it, he's been punished, and I think I can start to let it go now. Hopefully someday, I'll once again be able to look at Ed Hochuli and see a fine official with great pecs, instead of the guy who handed Denver a win.

Related: Jay Cutler, Denver Broncos, San Diego Chargers, NFL League Issues
 

Rack

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that almost directly cost the Chargers a loss against the Broncos


Almost?! Almost?! No, it DID cost the chargers a loss against the broncos. There's not "Almost" about it. If that play isn't screwed up by Hochalugi the chargers are kneeling the ball and going home 1-0 in their division.
 

FCBarca

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Apologizing is all well and good but something has to be done to prevent that sort of scenario playing out again...Whether they teach the refs to not blow the whistle so quickly or simply allow an overturn despite the whistle, it HAS to change.
 

TNCowboy

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:laugh2: Some SD fan got a hold of Hochuli's wikipedia page.
 

jman

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Rack;2266860 said:
Almost?! Almost?! No, it DID cost the chargers a loss against the broncos. There's not "Almost" about it. If that play isn't screwed up by Hochalugi the chargers are kneeling the ball and going home 1-0 in their division.

Maybe I'm looking at this wrong, but didn't it cost the Chargers a win?

They got the loss, that was given to them at the cost of the win.

maybe?
 

Rack

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jman;2266893 said:
Maybe I'm looking at this wrong, but didn't it cost the Chargers a win?

They got the loss, that was given to them at the cost of the win.

maybe?

Now I'm confused...
 

WV Cowboy

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Rack;2266860 said:
Almost?! Almost?! No, it DID cost the chargers a loss against the broncos. There's not "Almost" about it. If that play isn't screwed up by Hochalugi the chargers are kneeling the ball and going home 1-0 in their division.

Keeping the Broncos from scoring 30 pts previous to the blown call may have helped as well.;)

I've coached for quite a while, .. I've always told my kids, "we're not talking about officials, I don't want to hear it."

One call, one play, or normally one player does not win or lose a game.
 

Rack

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WV Cowboy;2266902 said:
Keeping the Broncos from scoring 30 pts previous to the blown call may have helped as well.;)

I've coached for quite a while, .. I've always told my kids, "we're not talking about officials, I don't want to hear it."

One call, one play, or normally one player does not win or lose a game.

You can coach what you want to your kids, but that blown call DID cost the Chargers the game. There's no way to say otherwise.
 

Doomsday

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I never really liked him as an official, but you have to respect him manning up and taking the heat.
 

CrazyCowboy

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man, the guy is human......give him a break...which is easy to say for a Cowboy fan.;-)
 

stealth

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How many other refs would man up like that?

I like ed cause he takes blame and he explains stuff really well.
 

gollum

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Rack;2266860 said:
Almost?! Almost?! No, it DID cost the chargers a loss against the broncos. There's not "Almost" about it. If that play isn't screwed up by Hochalugi the chargers are kneeling the ball and going home 1-0 in their division.

He didn't cost them the game. YES...he made a bad, no horrible call, but he didn't cost them the game. If I'm not mistaken, The Broncos put up 31 points without that call...was that Hoculi's fault? The Chargers still had two chances to stop the Broncos from winning...is that Ed's fault they can't overcome adversity in that situation? The only thing Ed's goof did was give the Broncos a last chance...and it got magnified 1 millions times because of when during the game it happened. If that happened on the first series of the game...yes, it would have given the Broncos...an OPPORTUNITY....to score, but you wouldn't have the outcry currently existing.

If I'm not mistaken, Hoculi was almost directly behind Cutler when he fumbled. From that angle, you can't tell if the ball moved forward or backward. I totally agree he should have let the play continue until finality. Worst case scenario is that it gets overturned. But do you remember what happened to Brady just one week earlier after he threw his pass? QBs drive the game and are the most marketable commodity the league has. Subconsiously, perhaps Ed had that in the back of his mind with all the pub that the Brady injury got. Cutler has elevated himself into the top tier of QBs in the league and if he were to have gotten hurt on the play if he allowed it to go, it could have ruined Denver's season.

The man can't win...but he's still only human, no matter how big his biceps are. It happens, it happened, it was a wrong call, but blame the league for the current rules in place, not Ed for not being able to correct the mistake. He admitted his mistake...what more can he do? It's a shame more people can't admit it when they are wrong in their daily lives, not to mention when your error is on national TV and affects hundreds of other individuals.
 

guag

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FCBarca;2266871 said:
Apologizing is all well and good but something has to be done to prevent that sort of scenario playing out again...Whether they teach the refs to not blow the whistle so quickly or simply allow an overturn despite the whistle, it HAS to change.

I hate the fact the the whistle has the final authority over everything... like even God himself wouldn't be able crappy call if the "whistle" had already been blown.
 

Hostile

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stealth;2266946 said:
How many other refs would man up like that?

I like ed cause he takes blame and he explains stuff really well.
That is why I sent him an e-mail of support.
 

Rack

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gollum;2266950 said:
He didn't cost them the game.



Yes, he did. Anyone with half a brain and at least 1 working eyeball could see that.


If I'm not mistaken, The Broncos put up 31 points without that call

And the Chargers had scored 38 points, what's your point?


There's no way to say it didn't cost the charger the game. It's real simple, if he doesn't screw up the call, the chargers win. End of story.
 

5Stars

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Has a ref ever been suspended for a game or two?

I know it's all in the heat of battle, but sometimes a player might do something pretty bad during a game, like a head butt to the QB (for example and unintentional) and might get a game or two suspended.

Also, I would like to know if a ref gets fined for something like this, and how much the fine is? They let everyone know (sometimes) what a player gets fined for.

Oh, well...I sure hope it was a mistake on his part, no sweat off my brow.
 

Hoofbite

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Full time officials are desperately needed.

Having games decided by people who only do what they do "some of the time" is ridiculous.

Billions upon billions of dollars are spent in the NFL and they still have part-timers influencing games.
 
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