Officiating at the End of Game (2 Viewers)

[Rsquared]

You have to give it to the officials. They did all they could to help the falcons. It made me mad when the Saints were driving for their last TD, and they throw a screen to Kamara who got hit for a 6 yard loss and driven back 4 yards. For some reason, they count the yards he was driven back and spot the ball at the 48, making it 2nd and 20. We got a first down on the next play, but still.

Yes, this was the worst spot I've ever seen in the NFL. Like you said, we overcame it, but it was at least 5 yards further back than it should have been. I remember seeing another one too, but can't remember when. This officiating crew will not grade well...

 

[WhoDatSean]

So I’m guessing the bs calls are going to continue after Sean Payton has left the building? I thought the NFL just hated SP not the organization.

 

[FullMonte]

That rule's intention was to penalize someone for burning a second off of a close clock in order to end the half or game with a FG and time expired. It explains it quite well. It absolutely is not a rule that should be applied when there is 30 seconds left on the clock and there is no advantage to burning 1 second more off of it. It's what they call "a situational foul". This situation absolutely did not call for that penalty. And, even when they did use it, they only used the portion of the penalty that they wanted to, not all of it, or else they would have run 10 seconds off the clock, according to that rule.

I would agree with you 100%....except for that one sentence that says the QB can only spike the ball with the clock running. Maybe that sentence should be removed, but then we have to leave it up to the refs to determine the intention behind the QBs action.

 

[Sailorsaint]

It's really too bad Sean is retired....and was still on the competitions committee.....because I would bet that he would be bringing up this situation in the offseason meetings to get it cleared up and more precisely worded...and enforced appropriately.

 

[MJ in Calif]

I thought the holding call on Lattimore near the end was a joke. Ticky-tack doesn't even do it justice. What a bail out call.

 

[Rsquared]

That rule's intention was to penalize someone for burning a second off of a close clock in order to end the half or game with a FG and time expired. It explains it quite well. It absolutely is not a rule that should be applied when there is 30 seconds left on the clock and there is no advantage to burning 1 second more off of it. It's what they call "a situational foul". This situation absolutely did not call for that penalty. And, even when they did use it, they only used the portion of the penalty that they wanted to, not all of it, or else they would have run 10 seconds off the clock, according to that rule.

There's no 10 second run off when the clock is stopped. And the clock being stopped is what created the penalty.

 

[Yatman]

Patrick Mahomes explains fluke intentional grounding penalty

“Yeah, we’ve been over that situation. That was on me. The penalty no matter if we except or decline it, the clock stops. So technically, me spiking the ball like that is almost an intentional grounding penalty. At the same time, the refs said they hadn’t seen that happen in 40 years. I just thought, decline the penalty, the clock was going to roll, so tried to spike it and save the time out. (Chiefs T Mitchell) Schwartz actually told me you can’t do that, but I just thought we could get away with it, and we didn’t. It made a difference for sure at that half.”

 

[Sailorsaint]

I would agree with you 100%....except for that one sentence that says the QB can only spike the ball with the clock running. Maybe that sentence should be removed, but then we have to leave it up to the refs to determine the intention behind the QBs action.

Sure, a lot of the situational fouls require interpretation by the ref. And there are way too many of them. But, if that ref was so informed of the rules that he threw the flag immediately, he should also know that the intent of the rule is to prevent burning a second off the clock in order to end a half or game. He only interpreted one phrase in the rule, not the entire rule.

 

[Sailorsaint]

There's no 10 second run off when the clock is stopped. And the clock being stopped is what created the penalty.

But the rule is specifically stated for when the clock is stopped and it says there should be a 10 second run off. It says that right in the rule....
INTENTIONAL GROUNDING—SPIKE TO CONSUME TIME First-and-10 on B30. The game clock is stopped with six seconds left in the first half. QBA1 takes the snap and immediately spikes the ball into the ground to take one second off the clock so that a field-goal attempt will run out the clock. Ruling: Half over. Intentional grounding and a 10-second runoff. A QB can only spike the ball to stop a running game clock. An attempt to take time off the clock is intentional grounding.

 

[Rsquared]

That was after he got up and started running, when he caught the ball and landed on his back, inbounds, he was touched by a defender...that's why that defender wasn't chasing him.

Correct, the touch came before this. It definitely should have been a booth review because it's under 2 minutes. I'm guessing the quick spike prevented the review which would have corrected the situation. If it had been reviewed and ruled down by contact, would that have required a 10 second runoff? Crazy ending and huge learning experience. Just grateful we got the win.

 

[Clintonrebel]

Hard to blame Winston for the intentional grounding. Landry looked inbounds. Our coaches should’ve been on top of it and been in Winstons helmet mic.

A two second look at the game clock would have told him what he needed to know.

 

[maybellineo]

Was at the game. The line judge on the Falcons side of the field was CONSISTENTLY spotting the ball a yard further back than where our player landed. The spot on the Kamara loss-of-yardage play was robbery. I believe that same official threw the flag on the supposed Lattimore holding well away from the throw (they never showed a replay in the dome, but the feedback I got was that it was bogus.)

On TV it look like Lattimore touched the Falcon guy's stomach. No grab of jersey at all. And the way the receiver was turned it would have been almost impossible for the ref to see at the angle anyway.

 

[SaintswonSBXLIV]

Show me where it says that in the rules. Besides, once the ball is snapped, the clock is no longer stopped, it is running. It is physically impossible to spike a ball when the clock is not running.

You are being way too literal. The clock was not running before the snap. It was the right call.

 

[td2w]

Man.... Several bold calls by the officials were really bad.

1. There's no way the catch at the end of the first half was an incomplete pass - this "football move" nonsese is just a gut feeling and they all seem to just stick it to us every time. If you review everything in the final minutes of the half, why on earth would you call anything other than a fumble? Why give the benefit of the doubt?

2. Two calls on Lattimore at the end of the game were also a stretch. Yeah maybe he pushed a guy to the ground, but that was officially after the game has ended - time ran out! Before that, maybe he was holding for a little moment (a receiver that wasn't even targeted) but both penalties had nothing to with the rest of the game
Lattimore lacks self-control in those situations and we've seen it last year as well, but you can't decide the outcome of the game on these penalties. Mike Thomas was being held twice as much in his TDs and 2PT conversion. 0 Flags.

3. Pete Warner with the "defenseless receiver" call - what was that all about? No hit to the head, no body leverage, where is the penalty?

4. Last and most important one - The Winston intentional grounding call.
Yes it was against the rules - if there's a rule for it, I get it - call it, but that's not the issue.

Landry was in bounds and was touched by the defender. I'm 328% certain that this was the case after watching the replay several times. (and BTW - not the smartest move there by Juice to run and celebrate)

Where's the problem then, you may ask? Well, it's a catch 22 situation, with those refs, I wouldn't be surprised if they had suddenly decided to challenge this and just announce the clock ran off and the game is over. I'm actually glad Winston spiked the ball - otherwise who knows what would've happened.

At this point, they can flag us for warming up before the game. Poor officiating lead to a poor decision by the Saints, but then again, who knows if it was the wrong decision..

 

[OldTimeGamer1966]

Was at the game. The line judge on the Falcons side of the field was CONSISTENTLY spotting the ball a yard further back than where our player landed. The spot on the Kamara loss-of-yardage play was robbery. I believe that same official threw the flag on the supposed Lattimore holding well away from the throw (they never showed a replay in the dome, but the feedback I got was that it was bogus.)

The non call on the Pitts fumble which it clearly was a fumble.