NFL Network is calling the 4th down spot controversial

[gimmesix]

I can see why you can question it. He caught it in the air at the line but his momentum carried him back and his feet hit a yard back. He never advanced it from there. But you could certainly say he was at the line in the air.

I'm almost 100% sure that the proper ruling is the runner doesn't get forward progress unless they are pushed back.

It isn't where the player is, it's where the ball is ... so even when he was in the air, it was a hands catch away from his body (which was at the 30) facing back toward the QB. He was at least a foot or two short when he caught it and more than that by the time he landed and was tackled.

 

[Redball Express]

I don't know what they were watching but that ball wasn't at the 30 yard line at any point. They even brought in a NFL official who explained it was the right call, but implied that the ball may have been at the 30 yard line before McClain made contact. Bull! That ball was nowhere near the 30 before or after contact.

They also called Dez's TD controversial. The official said the ball moved in his hands but it wasn't enough to overturn it? I saw the ball move at one point, but Dez clearly had control and the defender knew it by his reaction. Why not just give the Cowboys credit without implying that two great plays in a comeback win are controversial? At least ESPN's Mike and Mike gave the Cowboys credit for a great win.

I don't give a rat's ***.

For years..

these calls have gone against us and broke our backs..

eliminating us..

marginialing us..

throwing down on us..

as inept, irrelevant or bumbling.

And we may still get some calls in the days ahead that will challenge any sane fan..

but those two calls yesterday were earned for us and we leave the scene of the crime..

a more whole team than any I have seen since the '91 Cowboys team that primed itself for a SB run by losing to Atlanta that year.

We have arrived and we have to make our own breaks and take the calls when they come and don't point fingers at the refs..

the coaches or the players or the owner.

We have to embrace it and go forward and play the game like it's supposed to happen.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

There was nothing controversy at all about it. The Giants knew he was short. That's why they ran up to the line and tried to run a play rather than calling a timeout.

 

[big dog cowboy]

There was nothing controversy at all about it. The Giants knew he was short. That's why they ran up to the line and tried to run a play rather than calling a timeout.

So that was a tell?

 

[Bowdown27]

That last call made up for that blown fumble call. Collinsworth and michaels were shocked that we didn't get that ball.

 

[hairic]

In a game of inches aka hundreths of seconds, that play is about 4x removed from controversial.

Even with an advantageous camera angle, you can draw a line parallel to the 30 yard line that passes over the tip of the ball, giving the receiver some camera angle gains, and it'd be proved to never go past. Controversy is sort of impossible here.

 

[Bizwah]

If that play stands, then the play in the Wildcard game in 2006 with the Seahawks shouldn't have been reversed. Remember when Witten had a first and goal at the one that was reversed to fourth and inches from the two?

Romo bobbles the snap...game over.

 

[thechosen1n2]

No nearly as controversial as the NO FALSE START call on their first touchdown, the offensive interference on Beckham whom it should have been on (HECK of a catch though), and not giving us the fumble.

 

[Risen Star]

Oh, no! NFL Network hates us too!

 

[Pabst]

The fumble was a lot more controversial, and it was pretty obvious they screwed that one up.

There isn't a controversy. Dez caught the TD, and the ball never came close to the 30 yard line.

 

[boysfanindc]

That last call made up for that blown fumble call. Collinsworth and michaels were shocked that we didn't get that ball.

I don't think they where shocked we did not get the call, they said if you ask the refs what they thought had happened, they all would have said it was Probably a fumble, but that the replay was not conclusive enough for them to know what happened, at which point you have to stay with the call.

 

[Risen Star]

If those sorry officials could see that it didn't get there then NFL Network and all of the other Networks should see it was well.

I would've broke something had they gave him a first down after all the crap that got called against us in that game.


Im sick of the officials keeping these teams in games against us. When will it be our turn?

Pathetic.

 

[speedkilz88]

I don't think they where shocked we did not get the call, they said if you ask the refs what they thought had happened, they all would have said it was Probably a fumble, but that the replay was not conclusive enough for them to know what happened, at which point you have to stay with the call.

But we don't need to think what probably happened. We could see it was a fumble on the replay. There was also no reason not to call it a fumble when it happened. The Cowboys have been burned repeatedly on fumble calls this year that were not called fumbles and the refs claimed they blew the play dead.

 

[BoysfanfromCanada]

That could easily have been a first down. Easily. All he would have had to do was stretch his hands out, but Ro made the tackle, AND made it in a way that his hand hit the ball too on the OPPOSITE side of the receivers body, and then used his strength to counter the guys momentum and push him back. Yet no media members gives him any credit. There would have been a ton of tackles that would have got it wrong, be it leg tackles, pushing him on side, etc. It was the perfect tackle for the perfect moment

 

[boysfanindc]

But we don't need to think what probably happened. We could see it was a fumble on the replay. There was also no reason not to call it a fumble when it happened. The Cowboys have been burned repeatedly on fumble calls this year that were not called fumbles and the refs claimed they blew the play dead.

I don't believe the question was the ball coming loose, I believe the questions was, when it was coming loose was any part of his body down by contact. You may have X-ray vision, but I could not tell through that mass of humanity if that was or was not the case. If I had to guess I would say it was a fumble, but they can't guess or at least they should not.

 

[speedkilz88]

That could easily have been a first down. Easily. All he would have had to do was stretch his hands out, but Ro made the tackle, AND made it in a way that his hand hit the ball too on the OPPOSITE side of the receivers body, and then used his strength to counter the guys momentum and push him back. Yet no media members gives him any credit. There would have been a ton of tackles that would have got it wrong, be it leg tackles, pushing him on side, etc. It was the perfect tackle for the perfect moment

I bet Sturm covers it.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I just lost some respect for the NFL Network then. There should be no controversy at all over that play. The refs got it right via replay. End of story. He did not have a completed catch at the 30 at any point.

 

[Avery]

They need something to talk about. Between this, Odell's catch and the ending of DET/NE, they're golden.

Stop paying attention to the talking heads who are paid to talk.

 

[cajuncocoa]

Im sick of the officials keeping these teams in games against us. When will it be our turn?

Never. I've learned to expect bad calls against us. It doesn't make it right, but that's just the way it is.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

I don't think they where shocked we did not get the call, they said if you ask the refs what they thought had happened, they all would have said it was Probably a fumble, but that the replay was not conclusive enough for them to know what happened, at which point you have to stay with the call.

Bull ****, Dez caught a TD against the giants and refs ruled a TD but then over turned it saying his fingers was on the goal line. It was not clear as his gloves was white if his fingers was up or laying across the line. We lost that game.

That fumble was clearly a fumble from the angle they showed after the ruling.