Vision Quest: Rope, Tree, Hang the Referee

Ok, first let me just say I HATE football fans who complain about officiating. The officials are human and they will, and do make a mistake or two. Every NFL team will benefit and be a victim of bad officiating at some point in the season. Sometimes, the officiating may even cost them a game or two. I particularly hate the conspiracy theory fans who concoct elaborate scenarios where the NFL is trying to punish Daniel Snyder through his team’s play. Those guys need to get a life.

Did the officiating in the Denver-Washington game cost us a chance at 2-0? Maybe. But if it did equal blame could go to our lack of pass rush and poor tackling on two runs by Tatum Bell on 3rd and long that turned into long TD runs. So it is hard to put all the blame on the refs.

So why am I going crazy writing about something that I hate more then listening to Ashley Simpson singing the national anthem? Because sometimes officiating is so egregious and so outrageous that someone needs to stand up and say “What the ****Censored by Spence*** is going on here?”

Here are 5 examples of where I believe the officials were particularly egregious and the Redskins are rightful to send the tapes to the NFL for review.

Mistake #1: Patten’s Offensive Pass Interference in the 1st quarter.

This is straight up crap. Patten puts out his right arm almost 10 yards before he actually catches the ball. And even though he barely grazed the defender and never impeded his progress to the ball, the refs threw the hanky anyways. There is a difference between a technical violation and the spirit of the rule (see the same call on Carlos Rogers later in the list). The play took away a touchdown, and yes we scored later on in the drive, it does not negate the fact that the TD was taken away.

Mistake #2: Mark Brunell’s Phantom over the line of Scrimmage penalty 2nd quarter

This is not so straight up because I actually believe that the call that was finally made was correct, however the way they got there was not. The play occurred after the 2:00 minute warning and thus the opposing coach could not call a challenge. Mark Brunell threw an incomplete pass and NO PENALTY was assessed. This is an important point. The booth then decided to review the pass and later concluded that Mark Brunell was over the line of scrimmage. The officials then assessed a 5 yard penalty and loss of down for illegal forward pass. This is the first time I have ever seen a replay booth official assess a penalty that was not called on the field. It is my understanding that the Replay Booth can only overrule a play, and can not overrule or assess penalties on its own. Since the Replay Booth initiated the review of a play where no penalty was assessed how can they “reverse” the play and assess a penalty? The loss of yardage and down could have resulted in a loss of a TD, instead the redskins settled for a FG. A possible 4 points taken away.

Mistake #3: Mike Seller’s false start 2nd Quarter

I will be honest, I am not sure this is an actual mistake. But as I could not see a replay of the penalty on TV I have to voice a small objection here. False start penalties occur before the start of a play. It seemed to me the flag and the whistle did not come in until after the ball had traveled through the uprights. It may seem a little too critical for me to chime in on what may essentially be a correct call called a little late, and I agree it is. However I am absolutely tired of waiting to see whether or not the Ref’s are going to take away a score after it happens. I find myself holding in the cheer until I make sure that yellow flag box does not light up on the TV screen. If a false start is egregious enough to call on a last second FG attempt it should be egregious enough to stop the play before it happens. So this is a possible 3 points taken away by the Refs.

Mistake #4: The Infamous Tuck Rule 3rd Quarter

So many people have harped on this call this week that I am not sure I can add anything new. But I must point out a few things. NFL rules state that the QB can not fumble the ball while his arm is in the process of moving forward and that even if the ball is lost as the QB is bringing the ball back to his body. But it also states that if the QB is cocking his arm he can fumble. Jake Plummer touched the ball with his left hand in what I would say is an attempt to re-cock his arm after the pump fake. The ball was then fumbled. What proof do I have for Jake’s actions? Look at his reaction to dropping the ball. He certainly thinks it is a fumble. That is because it was. A sure 2 points taken away by the Refs.

Mistake #5: Carlos Roger’s Illegal Contact 3rd Quarter

I am not sure this cost us any points but it was a straight up blown call by the officials. I mentioned earlier that there are technical violations and actual infractions and a Ref has to decide whether to enforce a supposed penalty, especially on pass interference and illegal contact calls. Sure the rule states a defensive player can not touch an offensive receiver in mid route before the ball is thrown or it is illegal contact. However in this case, on third and long Rod Smart initiated the contact to Carlos Rogers by giving him a shiver 10 yards down the field. Rod Smart was not even the primary receiver let alone he initiated the contact. Again no points resulted but Denver did get another set of downs.

So anywhere from 2 to 9 points were taken away from the Redskins by bogus refereeing. When the game ends in a 2 loss on the road facing a tough team like Denver you can understand the frustration of many redskin fans. And I didn’t even mention the various non calls by the referees. The young Bronco defensive backs were clearly out matched so they grabbed so much cloth it looked it was an after the prom party and the receiver’s were their dates. Nor did I mention the massive amount of holding by the Bronco offensive line. I think we may need to send Cornelius Griffin to Laveraneus Coles’ therapist.

I still don’t want to hear the conspiracy theorists out there say that Washington is being singled out. They are not. Officiating is horrible throughout the league. And it is all the NFL’s fault. The NFL is the ONLY major sports league that does not hire full time referees. That is right, the NFL, multi billion dollar mammoth of a sports league is relying on part time referees to determine the outcome of it’s most important product.

Sure the season is short but do we really want some guy who has been running a hardware store all week determining the meaning of the “Tuck Rule”? Why can the NBA and MLB have full time Referees and Umpires but not the most powerful and important sport in the nation?

I know some of you will say having full time refs is a waste of time with the short season. But it seems to me many of these crews could use serious classroom time. The crews could be shipped out to different team practices (many of them go out and hire officials anyways) during mini camps and training camp. This way the crews work together here and in the pre-season and learn how to quickly communicate with each other as well as the players.

The NFL deserves full time officials, and the Redskins definitely deserved them last Sunday.

Coles-Moss Watch

Laveraneus Coles 22 Rec. 256 Yards (11.6 Ypc) 1 TD Long 31 1stdowns 16
(5 Games)

Santana Moss 23 Rec. 458 Yards (19.9 Ypc) 2 Tds Long 70 1stdowns 21
(4 Games)

Once again Moss won the week having 8 catches for 116 yards. Coles improved under ancient Vinny Testaverde but still only racked up 6 catches for 89 yards. The question is when will the pundits finally issue their mea culpas and proclaim they were in favor of this trade right from the start.

Denver Keys Recap

I did not get a chance to post my keys to the game article last week. However I doubt I would have had “Make sure the Ref’s 1-800 contacts prescription was filled” as a key. Nobody wins so on to the Hero and Goats.

Heroes and Goats

Well I promise no more about officiating. I promise. I will try and restrain myself to just players and a few coaches.

OFFENSE

Hero: Mark Brunell 30 for 53, 322 Yards, 2 TDs, 4 rushes for 17 yards

Goat: Joe Gibbs 2nd Down and short Play Calling

For the third straight game in a row Mark Brunell is my offensive Hero. He made all the throws, including some that were called back. What more can Redskin fans ask from a QB? Maybe he should have run one more time into the end zone on the 2 point conversion, but with wind and rain battling him all day, he delivered. This is why Joe Gibbs had faith in him all along. It is ironic that I am giving Joe Gibbs the Goat of the game….but I am. In almost every 2nd and short situation Denver brought 8 to 9 guys in the box. Yet the Redskins called running plays up the middle almost every time. These are perfect play action downs and either Gibbs needs to call that early on or allow/coach Mark Brunell to audible into a short drop pass. Someone needs to be blamed, so I went to Gibbs, as much as it kills me.

DEFENSE

Hero: Cornelius Griffin 3 tackles, dominant play

Goat: Phillip Daniels Both Tatum Bell TD runs on his side.

Griffin continued a quite but productive season. Denver could not run up the middle because Mount Griffin was there. He occupied blockers and forced Denver to either give up on the run, or run outside. Unfortunately out there was Phillip Daniels. Both Tatum Bell TD runs were to the out side, right at Phillip Daniels. The first run he had a clear shot at Bell but whiffed. The second td run Daniels totally lost containment. Add to that no pressure all day long on Plummer and Daniels along with Wynn is not getting it done.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Hero: Chris Clemons Blocked Punt

Goat: Danny Smith 2nd blocked FG in two weeks

Anytime you get a blocked punt you go to the top of the line for the Special Team Hero column. Sure the block itself did not lead to any points, but the feat itself is important enough. It helped overall in the field position battle and on a rainy sloppy day it was a great play in the midst of horrible special teams. Hey Danny Smith I am looking your way. For the second straight week your FG unit had a blocked punt. Whether this is the line’s fault or the rookie K, you are responsible for fixing it. And for the life of me I still don’t see how Derrick Frost is an improvement over Andy Groom on the punting side. You need to spend all week getting these teams ready to play or else you will be spending all off season looking for a new job.

So that’s it. This week I will try and get the keys done for the Chiefs and be back with another article on Friday or Saturday.