Cro actually did play a lot more press yesterday than he's played in any other game this season. I know, because I constantly watch him so I can call him a dumb piece of shit. He didn't do it well, but he did affect the routes of receivers on a number of plays and Tannehill threw away from him.
It was a legit INT. I was watching from the stadium on the big board and you couldn't see the ball move. It looked like he legit had it all the way. I can see how the call on the field was incomplete. It looked incomplete all the way until they zoomed.
I agree the replay was obvious that it was an interception. What a travesty. But... I do understand that if the replay is ambiguous, you have to have a ruling anyway, and so you go with what was ruled on the field. It makes no sense to do the opposite of what was ruled on the field if the replay is ambiguous. Now, how much deference should that original ruling get if the evidence is that such ruling was more likely than not wrong? None. That covers it.
From what I remember the ball clearly touched the ground and Cromartie sort of left the ball a little bit out there to the point where you could assume that he didn't have full possession really, that the ball was pushed back into his palm when he fell down. I mean at least that's probably what they saw or were thinking. Otherwise it makes no sense to not rule it an interception. I thought it was an INT but I don't agree that it was so obvious. Whenever the ball touches the ground the refs usually rule it an incompletion (not a catch, not a fumble, not a pick, see Dez Bryant, Calvin Johnson rule etc.). At this point you have to catch a ball and run 99 yards before they rule it a catch. Like it has to be THAT obvious.
Mike Carey explained the word of the rule and it's demonstrating control and not losing control should the ball touch the ground. That's exactly what happened. He didn't "leave the ball a little bit out there."
I don't get how it wasn't ruled and interception. There was no doubt in my mind he made that catch. A sick catch at that.
Yup. If a person was able to slow time down to the speed of instant replay and secure a football in midair and keep control of it, they wouldn't have been able to do it better than Cro did, that was how fast, precise and deliberate his catching motion was.
Good question. The problem is that the NFL has no one to blame but themselves for the shit calls. Aren't they the only professional sports league that doesn't have full time referees, and instead uses amateurs who have other full time jobs? The NFL deserves to be excoriated for this. They need to hire good, young men who are athletic, and perhaps used to play the game themselves, and train them constantly. Some don't seem to know the rules, some seem blatantly biased, others just blind. IMO there has been some improvement, but it hasn't gone far enough. At least we don't see stupid refs just standing there in the way of WRs running their routes or getting run over by RBs as often as we used to.
I don't have a clue how that wasn't an interception, I thought it was an obvious call. There's no real definition of what a catch is, it's just pretty arbitrary depending on the officiating crew. I thought Cro's "INT" was more of catch than Decker's catch last week to be honest. Both were catches however
Why aren't the NFL rules experts used in a central replay hub instead of on air commentary during games? It seems like a huge waste to have the most knowledgeable refs do nothing at all that impacts the game. They are correct just about every time and the NFL should have Pereira and Carey doing that instead of silly useless commentary. By the current definition of a catch, the Cro pick should have counted.
Cromartie? Press coverage was supposed to be his strength. What is there left if he can't even do that?
It's confusing as well, but I often don't agree with what Mike Carey and the rest of the goon squad says.
Umm, do you even know how to tie your shoes? At what point in U.S. history was Antonio Cromartie ever listed for strength at press coverage?
Excellent response. As I see it, we have a multi billion dollar enterprise soon to go internationally, an empire that pays the Commish 40M a year, a money making machine that lives and dies by what the results on the field are, yet they treat the most critical position on that very field, the one responsible to insure compliance, fairness and accuracy of the results no different than the part time help that collects ticket stubs at the entrance. They are professionals that deserve to be supported, trained and provided with development tools and a career path.
That was probably the worst non call on replay I have ever seen, if that is not a clear catch, I do not think anyone knows. What gets me is that a fucking RB can leap in mid air and stick his arm out and cross some imaginary plane of the goal line going up into infinity and have the fucking ball swiped out of his hands before he lands or hits anything, or never have a toenail of his body ever touch the endzone and its a TD, but we can't seem to figure out what control of the ball means.
