News: ESPN: How the Dez Bryant no-catch call changed the NFL forever

[Cowboys5217]

it seems we beat the lions on a bs call so maybe this was the result of that. shrugs who knows.

The Lions player had committed a penalty on the same play.

 

[Portnoy1]

By the rules at the time, it wasn't a catch.
But I don't think it mattered anyway.
If it was ruled a touchdown, we would have been up by (2) 28-26 or by three (3) 29-26.
But we weren't stopping Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. With 4 minutes left, he likely would have driven down the field for the winning touchdown.

Thank you sir for highlighting what most people seem to miss. If we had 2022 Defense then Rodgers would be in trouble. But that 2014 defense was mediocre and just happened to get a bunch of turnovers and when they didn't they got scored on. The fact they couldn't get any pressure on a man with one leg speaks volumes.

 

[Tommy]

Wasn't the rule at the time that you have to make a "football move" after the catch? I thought him stretching the ball out toward the goal line was a football move.

 

[Plankton]

By the rules at the time, it wasn't a catch.
But I don't think it mattered anyway.
If it was ruled a touchdown, we would have been up by (2) 28-26 or by three (3) 29-26.
But we weren't stopping Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. With 4 minutes left, he likely would have driven down the field for the winning touchdown.

Circle gets the square.

 

[SultanOfSix]

Rigged call. No doubt about it. That turned out to be the best chance for a SB for Romo and Witten.

Don’t care if Rogers “could’ve” or likely “would’ve” drove down the field and scored. He may not have. A fumble or pick could’ve happened or a stop on 4th down. That’s why you have players play the game. You don’t have it determined by the zebras and yellow.

 

[WillieBeamen]

I said it wasn't a catch by the NFL rule the very second I saw the replay....

Just like this wasn't a catch for Calvin Johnson against the Bears long before Dez

Him reaching out for the goal line (football move) is what made it a catch.

Had he not did that and it came loose, the refs wouldve been right

 

[WillieBeamen]

Rigged call. No doubt about it. That turned out to be the best chance for a SB for Romo and Witten.

Don’t care if Rogers “could’ve” or likely “would’ve” drove down the field and scored. He may not have. A fumble or pick could’ve happened or a stop on 4th down. That’s why you have players play the game. You don’t have it determined by the zebras and yellow.

Rodgers is a front-running QB. Always has been, always will be. We take the lead there, there is no doubt in my mind, we win…

 

[loublue22]

The play being ruled a catch doesn't guarantee they win though. I believe he caught at and dove to the one. Let's say they run it in for the score, we still have to give the ball back to Aaron Rodgers. An Aaron Rodgers who had one leg and still managed not to barely get sacked. Add to that the defense couldnt get a needed stop after the failed 4th down. Also perhaps if butterfinger Demarco doesn't fumble he'd hit his head on the goal post making the Dez catch/non catch possibly not be a factor. Sure the ref made a bad call, especially by today's standards, but defense couldnt get a one legged Rodgers on the ground at all, Murray fumbled a clear huge gain and most likely TD. That's why the cowboys lost.


The same thing can be said for what happened the prior week when they played Detroit. The ref screwed up /picked up the flag on pass interference. What Detroit fans seem to forget is the punter shanking a kick for 6yards or so giving the Cowboys great field position right after that. That always gets left out.

That play vs DET was not PI on Dallas, the back angle (which they only showed once) clearly showed Pettigrew(?) reaching out and grabbing the trailing defenders face mask before the defenders made any contact.

 

[805BoysInBlue]

Some of the calls that are made on the field and in the booth in the NFL worry me sometimes. Sometimes it really feels like there has to be more going on here than just a bad call. There is no way that call should have been overturned. There is absolutely no way the Bears fumble against us 2 weeks ago should have been overturned. And it doesn't take a trained, professional referee to make these calls. Any person with half a brain can agree that there was not clear and conclusive evidence to reverse the call.

But the biggest evidence of shady officiating I have ever seen was in a statistic posted in here several years back. If I can find it I'll post it. It was the number of career roughing the passer calls made in the 2nd half of games in favor of several top QB's in the NFL. The number of calls made in the favor of other QB's compared to those of Tony Romo was unbelievable. Absolutely no way that stat could just be a weird coincidence.

Romo never ever got those calls, I saw that man take soany late hits it was ridiculous.

 

[phildadon86]

Romo never ever got those calls, I saw that man take soany late hits it was ridiculous.

In the same game referenced he was taken out low by Clay Matthews wayyyyy after the ball was gone. Nothing.

 

[DripTooHard]

Even if that pass to Dez was ruled a catch, I'm sure Rogers would have found a way to win the game................LOL!!!

You don’t know that! And you never will because the NFL robbed us of a great finish!

 

[Streifenkarl]

Where's Cowpolk and his "waaaaaahhh" post now? This thread would deserve it.

Geez people, get over it.

 

[Portnoy1]

That play vs DET was not PI on Dallas, the back angle (which they only showed once) clearly showed Pettigrew(?) reaching out and grabbing the trailing defenders face mask before the defenders made any contact.

Okay, and what about Dez being on the field complaining to the official during that incident? There is no flag on that for unsportsmanlike conduct? Either way my point is the same, we can't point to a ref making a call as the a major reason for a lose. Detroit fans complain about the picking up of flags for pass interference. But neglect to mention there punter shanking a kick. We complain about the overturned call in Greenbay, but don't talk about the defense or Murray's fumble nearly enough.

 

[DripTooHard]

The Lions player had committed a penalty on the same play.

Yes he grabbed Anthony Hitchens face mask. People overlook that. Could have been offsetting penalties as well.

 

[Reid1boys]

I was at the game. To this day I am still more bitter at this than anything I have ever seen in sports. I was robbed out of a play that would have gone down in cowboys history as one of the greatest in Cowboys history. I don't know ifv the lead holds, but I know we should have had the ball at the 1 yard line with little time left.

 

[tyke1doe]

Thank you sir for highlighting what most people seem to miss. If we had 2022 Defense then Rodgers would be in trouble. But that 2014 defense was mediocre and just happened to get a bunch of turnovers and when they didn't they got scored on. The fact they couldn't get any pressure on a man with one leg speaks volumes.

I was trying to remember which playoff game Rodgers was walking around with one leg and we couldn't sack him.
The fact it was that game makes it all the more egregious and reminded me that if we can't stop a quarterback hopping around the field on one good leg, we were as good as done if we left any time on the clock.

 

[DripTooHard]

I was trying to remember which playoff game Rodgers was walking around with one leg and we couldn't sack him.
The fact it was that game makes it all the more egregious and reminded me that if we can stop a one-legged quarterback, we were as good as done if we left any time on the clock.

You don’t like Jeremy Mincey?

 

[terra]

It was a catch. Anyone who has ever played the game knew it was a catch. Dez took THREE STEPS. He clearly had control of the ball by reaching for the end zone.

By the way football had always been played at all levels of the game THAT WAS A CATCH.

and those that say it would not have mattered truly are blind deaf and dumb- BECAUSE IT DID MATTER.

WE WERE CHEATED OUT OF A CHANCE. Simple as that.

 

[DogFace]

The rule at the time was:

1. Control
2. Two feet down inbounds
3. Time to make a football move

Moving the ball from two hands down to a shoulder then to one hand demonstrated that the time had been achieved because it was, at minimum, one football move, but regardless of that the time part was clear.

 

[Tommy]

I was trying to remember which playoff game Rodgers was walking around with one leg and we couldn't sack him.
The fact it was that game makes it all the more egregious and reminded me that if we can't stop a quarterback hopping around the field on one good leg, we were as good as done if we left any time on the clock.

Stop talking like this is a fact. It’s not.

We may have lost the game in the end. If we won we may have lost the next week. That’s not the point.

The point is we never got the chance due to that horrible call reversal.