Monday Night football ending catch

Even if you didn't watch the game last I'm sure a lot of you will hear about his today. To start with most of the game was bad lots of flags throughout, most good calls, and very little offense the whole night. The very last play of the game is a hail mary bomb into the endzone. First, before the ball gets to the endzone Tate (the Seattle player) clearly pushes a Green Bay in the back, knocking him to the ground. This should have been offensive pass interference but no ref called, and you can't review a plenty while looking at the replay.

Now the catch, clearly a packer catches the ball in air and Tate throws his arms around him. They both land and they are fighting each other for possession of the ball. Two refs come running in standing right over the two players and one calls it a touchdown the other gives the ball to the packers. This morning everyone seems to think that this was clearly the wrong call and the packers got screwed. There is a dual possession rule in the NFL, which states if two or more players have possession the ball goes to the offensive player or the player who had possession first. So the question than becomes does the packer have possession before Tate? The amount of possession each player has is not important, even if Tate only has 2% possession of the ball it should be a touchdown.

The way I saw it, since the packer player who catches the ball jumped 3 feet in the air, he doesn't have possession till his feet hit the ground. By the time he lands Tate had one hand clearly on the ball and the other wrapped around the player. If the packer player had a good solid grip on the ball he should have ripped it away from Tate, but he couldn't. In fact, the two players fought for the ball for 5 minutes and in the end it was Tate who walked away with the ball one everyone was pulled away. In the end, it should have been offensive pass interference game over. If that wasn't called than I give the jump ball to Seattle, game over.

I lost money off that bullshit call.

We need to fire these goddamn monkeys and just pay the refs because they directly altered the outcome of last nights game from a bullshit call and they are beyond incompetent. Done with the NFL until they bring back the real refs.

It was clear as day that Jennings had that ball. The call on the field was a touchdown, so I'm guessing they simply decided not to overturn the call and create a riot in Seattle. It was absolutely BS, though.

Foot locker must be missing a few employees.

That was an I...N...T...Plain and simple. Sucks for Packer fans. I weap for the playoffs and Superbowl if they keep these jackhole refs. This truly is rock-bottom for officiating.

@BoG said:

It was clear as day that Jennings had that ball. The call on the field was a touchdown, so I'm guessing they simply decided not to overturn the call and create a riot in Seattle. It was absolutely BS, though.

Absolute bullshit is a nice way of saying it lol.

Hopefully this was a final wake up call and they will pay the refs to come back because if this shit.

@runnah555 said:

Foot locker must be missing a few employees.

lololololololololol

Jennings clearly picked the ball and put the ball to his chest with both hands on it. Tate barely had his hand on the ball and then when they went to the ground he put his other hand on the ball and tried to wrestle it away but Jennings held it tight. It didn't matter that Tate had the ball after clearing the pile, it wasn't a fumble so it doesn't apply. Then when Tate was interviewed he said he had no doubt that it was a touchdown, what a bunch of bullshit.

Green Bay fought hard up until the end. In the end though, the officials just made one more play than GB...

There were bad calls throughout the entire game, but that last drive started with a bogus roughing the passer call and continued with the offensive pass interference getting called as defensive pass interference. I thought it was an interception at the end, I was certain. So was the ref who signaled touchback. I don't think the head ref knew what was going on so he just signaled touchdown.

Gotta just love how cocky Wilson and Tate have been about it. The referees made their last drive possible, not their talent.

If Goodell is not ashamed of himself by now, then he needs to be replaced. It's one thing to hold your ground when unreasonable strikes happen, but from what I've read it doesn't seem like the referees are being that unreasonable. Pay the refs what they want, or at least deserve, because obviously these replacement refs are not going to cut it. When it affects the integrity of the league, it needs to end.

No amount of officiating could help the Lions defense, plus it's fun to watch the packers lose. I say keep the scab refs and their hilarious, key-stone cop style antics.

I hate all of the complaining being done about replacement refs, but that call is going to make things way worse. GB has one of the biggest and most diehard fanbases out there, and they aren't going to let this go for a while...and to be honest they shouldn't. That was one of the worst calls I've seen in a pretty long time.

The NFL has got to resolve their issues with the refs.

@BoG: when reviewing a play, you can't overturn possession. Now, it's insane they didn't give it to jennings in the first place. Sure if it was joint possession it wold be a touchdown, but joint possession my ass.

@BoG said:

It was clear as day that Jennings had that ball. The call on the field was a touchdown, so I'm guessing they simply decided not to overturn the call and create a riot in Seattle. It was absolutely BS, though.

From what I understand, the call (mutual possession) is not changeable under replay. All they were looking for was if the ball hit the ground or if Tate stepped out of bounds. They couldn't do anything about the obvious offensive pass interference either.

@BoFooQ: I disagree.

Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 5 of the NFL rulebook:

"If a pass iscaught simultaneouslyby two eligible opponents, and both retain it, the ball belongs to the passers. It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control"

The rule requires both players to have simultaneously caught the ball for there to be dual possession. In this case, Jennings clearly had both arms around the ball whereas Tate initially only had one arm around Jennings arm then around the ball. At most, it would be subsequent possession, it was never simultaneous. Moreover, it is highly questionable that Tate ever had control of the ball before hitting the ground. Like you said, he had one arm around the ball and the other around Jennings. That, in itself, is not possession. Bad, bad call.

The NFL needs to give the actual refs what they want, NOW. It gets worse and worse every week.

I like the NFL. I don't like the joke product that has been put on the field for the last 3 weeks. So I'm going to protest the only way that I know how.

Not watching any more NFL games until they bring back the old sucky, but not horrific referees.

@thevigilanteoflove: I totally agree. It's hard to believe with all the money that the NFL generates they can't come to an agreement with these refs. Last night was an embarrassment.

Grantland has an unfiltered string of emails of people's various reactions to this situation.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/37965/the-sports-guys-mailbox-anti-replacement-refs-edition

So much for the NFL protecting the integrity of the game. I think people should boycott the NFL for one day. Not buy any merchandise or attend a game in protest. Players and coaches should not enter the field for a quarter. The league should not get away with ruining the quality of the game.

the idea of boycotting is crazy, I'm don't care who out there reffing the game on sundayI'm going to watch. But back to my original point, I like how some of you say he only had one hand on the ball and every week we see dozens of catches with one hand.

What should be done on hail mary? They use to say that you should bat it down, but that didn't work out Ten vs Det. I think defenders should start going up trying to punch the ball like a soccer goalie, send the ball as far away as possible and if possible out of bounds.

I thought the call was ridiculous but the NFL's statement on the matter trumped that. The NFL calling it a simultaneous catch is flat out wrong but what are you going to do. NFL is still getting great ratings so why try to work out a quicker agreement with the Reffs

Still the worst call that has ever been made in football. I get angry just looking at this image. I could live to be 80 years old and I will still be pissed about this play. Every Sunday I sit with my Kenny Stabler jersey and at least once will say to myself "goddamn tuck rule".

So I welcome Packers fans to the club. You may tell us "it's just a game".You may scoff at us. You may even mock us. But Packers fans, you are now part of us. The League of NFL Teams who always get screwed. You're in very esteemed company. It's the Raiders, the Browns, and ironically the Seahawks.

Tuck rule was bad. The lions also got screwed last year or year before when they started rule that says you have to possess the ball all the way through the ground. If you remember this play the Lions WR catches the ball vs the bears towards the end of the game and the has he roles over on his way getting up he drops the ball and than they say he didn't catch it.

these are the refs that you all want back so badly.

  At least some of the local folks are having fun with it.