I don't know how else to explain it to you. Once the offensive player, Pettigrew had committed the foul the play was essentially over. Whatever happened after that point is moot save for a dead ball foul. If it helps then think of when there is a guy covering a punt who gets pushed in the back and then falls into the returner causing him to muff the punt. Even though the coverage guy technically committed the foul, the block in the back takes precedence as it basically caused the ensuing foul. My observation is that Pettigrew pushed off to create separation, Hitchens was knocked off balance by the push and flailed and grabbed the jersey. Hitchens closes on Pettigrew again at which point Pettigrew grabbed Hitchens' facemask, pulled down on it then pushed his head back.. to create separation again. You clearly see Hitch's head snap back from the push to his face. If Pettigrew doesn't push off there is no need for Hitch to grab on because if he is not knocked off balance he was faster than Pettigrew and would have stayed in his hip pocket the whole way. I can only assume that the refs saw all the fouls that took place during the play by both guys and concluded that no call was the right call because the offensive player initiated the contact by pushing off in the first place. What ensued was just guys playing football. Throw in that the ball was underthrown and hit Hitchens in the middle of the back and that about settles it. Nowhere in the rule book does it say the defender has to move aside to allow the ball to get to the receiver. And you hear announcers say it every week.. "As a receiver , if you extend the arm they're gonna call it every time.." Which really means they're gonna call it every time if you play receiver for the Cowboys.. but they will happily overlook it if you play for someone else and especially if you are playing against the Cowboys.
