Three parts to this brief rant: 1) I mentioned this in another thread, but at the end of the first half of the Vikings v Panthers game, a ref called an illegal formation on the Vikings. Big deal? Not normally - except this was a kneel down play to run the final 7 seconds off the clock! Do we really care about an illegal formation???? If this turned out to be a trick play, then yes, it matters, but the kneeldown happened and players from both teams were walking off the field! 2) The "tuck rule" has got to be reviewed. Delhomme's 'incomplete pass' in overtime was obviously not a pass attempt - I'm sure even the ref would agree with that, but since the rules are the way they are, they had to call it a pass. His arm was barely moving forward, and you could see the ball snap out of his fingers as he fumbled the ball. Fortunately the Vikings did what a good team does - they overcame the bad call by the refs and sealed teh deal. 3) How is it that Brad Johnson gets called for intentional grounding when he throws the ball towards the offensive line while being tackled, yet if Delhomme heaves the ball over his shoulder while being tackled it becomes an incomplete pass? Both were within the TE box...maybe I'm just missing it. This rant over.
Ill add one on....the leagues new focus on not blowing a whistle when a player is down but the ball came out....by telling the officials not to blow that whistle, its putting extreme emphasis on the coaches to challenge fumbles where the player was clearly down....and what happens if it the 4th such bad call of the game? what happens if a coach has already challenged 3, and won them all? the system is not right and should revert back to last year....
