Did anyone else Laugh

Well it does make a difference if the whistle blew, because that's one of the first things you learn as a player......play till you hear the whistle. If the whistle hadn't blown(which it did not, I replayed it several times and the whistle came right after the hit) then he was doing his job.

The play was essentially over, yes, but no whistle you keep playing. The ref shouldn't have thrown the flag because he was too slow to blow his whistle.