Did you see what I saw?

by NJBroncoFan on Dec 28, 2009 1:23 PM MST

I can't believe I've been a regular "reader" of this site for the past year and nothing before yesterday, has motivated me enough to want to make my first posting...not the firing of Shanahan, the trading of Cutler, the 2009 draft, or the 6-0 start. But I can "lurk" no more. Not after seeing that controversial 4th quarter instant replay call of the critical Jeremy Maclin "catch". Now, I am a die-hard Bronco fan (20+ years, thanks to John Elway) and I did have a house filled with Eagles fans, but I think I am being as objective as I can be when I say there is no way that call should have been reversed on the field. What I "saw"....was Jeremy Maclin dive to make the catch...put both hands on the ball....and then get both feet in bounds. But when you look carefully at the slow motion replay, AFTER both his feet appear to touch down in bounds, the ball MOVES in his hands, as he gets a better grip on the ball. To me that means that he did NOT have possesion of the ball at the time that his feet were in bounds. Now of course, none of my Philly friends/family members agreed with me....but to make matters worse, the original call on the field was "incomplete pass", so that means that there must have been irrefutable visual evidence that he caught the ball...and got both feet in....and I was SURE that the play would NOT be overturned because to me it was 100% irrefutable. Was anyone else thinking the same thing at the time?

And on a side note.....Overall I'm very happy with the direction that coach McDaniel's seems to have the Broncos going. It's been a very up and down year....I never really thought (before the season) that we would be good enough to make some "noise" in the playoffs (with all the new changes), so should I feel a bit guilty about NOT wanting the Broncos to make the playoffs this year? Sure I want them to beat KC, but we will have an easier schedule and higher drat picks if don't make the playoffs. Really is there any point to going in as the 6th seed? Even if we play well in the opening round of the playoffs and earn the upset, we'll get to go back to Indy for a game that I just might not be able to watch (I can only bare to see P.Manning rip apart the Denver D so many times). Thoughts?

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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Ball movement isn't an issue if he maintains

possesion once he hits the ground. That’s just the way the rule is enforced anyway. They were many other questionable calls prior to that, like the interferance call on Bailey. I’ve watched that several times now and he had established position, nothing about play was illegal on either player. and how about the phantom motion penalty…….both changed the course of the game.

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by bchiper on Dec 28, 2009 1:40 PM MST reply actions

Bailey's PI

Was pretty clearly called correctly.

If he had looked back instead of running into Jackson, he would have been free to make the contact, but since he didn’t and just stuck his arms up and ran into Jackson, it was Pass Interference.

"It's all over Fat Man" - Tom Jackson to John Madden 1977 AFC Championship Game

by DesertBroncoFan on Dec 28, 2009 2:23 PM MST up reply actions

I'm pretty sure that Bailey didn't even touch Jackson.

That was the most “ticky-tac” pass interference call I’ve seen in a long time. Bailey’s hands went up and got in Jackson’s face, not making contact with him. He ran into Jackson after the ball was batted down. That was a TERRIBLE CALL! That play might have been the momentum turner because it was a third down play.

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by broncoholic on Dec 28, 2009 3:36 PM MST up reply actions

He didn't

the only slight contact was the receiver touching Champ. It looked like a penalty because Champ didn’t look back soon enough or long enough.

But either way it is simply lame. This is football and there needs to be some jostling and, I dunno, defense. The way it is now is all teams have to do is rainbow the ball 50 yards down the field and they’re almost guaranteed to get a penalty. It’s pathetic.

~me

by vincerelli on Dec 29, 2009 12:33 PM MST up reply actions

I had to agree with the call

technically.

Bailey really did all he could. The ball was thrown short and jackson reached back through bailey’s arms. Contact is contact.

I also agree that pass was a catch. more so than reaching over the pilon as you step out of bounds on the one is a touchdown.

Opinions are like......, Well anyway, this is mine.

by Sean in Pa. on Dec 28, 2009 6:13 PM MST up reply actions

well if that was interference

then numerous times this year Stokely, Scheffler and Gaffney were seriously interfered with

I would hope you would support who we are. Not, who we are not. Coach Norman Dale "Hoosiers"

by dmitchell624 on Dec 29, 2009 6:17 AM MST up reply actions 1 recs

YUP!

We haven’t gotten any calls that were a LOT worse than that

~me

by vincerelli on Dec 29, 2009 12:33 PM MST up reply actions

I completely agree

I also think that there should be two types of interference. Just like the facemask, there should be an inadvertent call. 15 yds max penalty.
You cannot interfere with the recievers ability to catch the ball so it is a penalty. That is the rule and I like it when it works for my team so I will defend it. However, if the defender is not purposfull as Bailey was just putting up a blind screen and Jackson turned and reached back for a ball, this is a perfect example of when spot of the foul is way out of line. Had Champ not been in the way it is questionable that the catch would have been made. That is a separate arguement as an uncatchable ball should not be a foul in the first place. So, inadvertent would be 15 yds or spot of foul, whichever is shortest distance. That or we put a back up camera in the helmets :-)

Opinions are like......, Well anyway, this is mine.

by Sean in Pa. on Dec 29, 2009 6:01 PM MST up reply actions

Goodman said it was a catch

I think we can take his word for it, don’t you? the huge missed call i haven’t seen mentioned was the 1 full second false start by the eagles LG on the TD pass to Celek that made it 16-7. the officiating is a joke, getting to be NBA-bad. and the ref hamming it up whilst he oversaw such poor “work” from his crew made me feel embarassed for him. whether it was stupidity, arrogance or both that fueled his performance, only he can know.

by LouisWright on Dec 28, 2009 1:44 PM MST reply actions

I'm glad someone else notices that ref

I wouldn’t call it hamming but whatever it is it really gets on my nerves when he gets on camera.
He seems smug or something, I wonder if he knows he is coming off that way. Most refs I’ve seen in my life seem to understand that you have to be very professional in that position. I’ve seen him before and he always affects me that way.

by Lisa FB on Dec 28, 2009 2:33 PM MST up reply actions

LOL

My kid was watching the game with me and I told him the same thing. "Everytime that guy calls a game I just get mad, he irritates me. He is like a bad actor overemphasizing words, like we won’t understand what he means or something LOL

Opinions are like......, Well anyway, this is mine.

by Sean in Pa. on Dec 28, 2009 6:15 PM MST up reply actions

or how about how Ref would

swing out his arm to indicate which side “committed” the penalty? looked like he was auditioning for karate kid 4.

by LouisWright on Dec 29, 2009 4:37 AM MST up reply actions

indy

i think you are afraid of the wrong thing- it would be our offense that would get shut down by indy, not our defense that would get destroyed. i was in indy at our first humiliating playoff defeat to the colts. i left early and saw simms on the us air flight back to NY, and you know what…seeing him made me feel better right away, because at least by attending in person, i didn’t have to endure his garbage announcing on top of watching the carnage. even a rocking hoosier dome is better than listening to simms announce a game.

by LouisWright on Dec 28, 2009 1:49 PM MST reply actions

Sorry man

That was a catch. I thought it was bad at first, but seeing the replay told me it was a catch. The ball can move a little bit, but as long as the receiver keeps control it is a catch.

There were way worse calls as mentioned earlier in the comments though…that officiating crew sucked bad.

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Got some if you need it!" -EV

by sadaraine on Dec 28, 2009 2:02 PM MST reply actions

It was a great catch! Just ask the ref's!

They had padded the Eagles to a 17 point lead and were in a panic to get the Eagles back to the top. Even on McNabbs run, by the way was an outstaing run on his part, would of probably been called for some reason beyond our control. They weren’t going to let the Eagles lose, no way, no how. I’m still pissed off at the officiating and rightly so. Just my opinion though and don’t be going all Dixie Chicks on me and call me names.

by bfree2bronc on Dec 28, 2009 2:11 PM MST reply actions

Oooh

Just my opinion though and don’t be going all Dixie Chicks on me and call me names.

Is that a political statement? Just kidding. The refs were worse than horrible.

We will now discuss in a little more detail the Struggle for Existence.
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by bradley on Dec 28, 2009 2:24 PM MST up reply actions

rematches in theplayoffs aren't the worst thing in the world

I would love for this team to get a taste of playoff action. Guys like BM have never had that , and it might take their “want-to” level up a notch for next season.

Also, in a rematch, the loser of the first game is statistically at an advantage, though the reasoning behind it isn’t very clear. I do agree that you learn more from a loss, and lord knows the Broncos have learned a lot about themselves the past two months, more than we learned in the first…

Whether we learned enough to compete with Manning and Co. is debatable, but I would love to find out in the only arena where it mattered… :)

Precision in thought, concision in style, decision in life.

"That's MR.Styg..."

by Jeremy Bolander on Dec 28, 2009 3:52 PM MST reply actions

I was not that mad at that call

It looked like a ctach to me, but I could of seen it called the other way because it looked like he may not of had control of it when his back foot came off the turf, but I think they got it right.

Look, we can blame the refs, but they did not cost us the game, we had plenty of shots at winning it and we blew it.

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by Broncoman on Dec 28, 2009 3:59 PM MST reply actions

I just think the refs

called a game that was tighter than a… well, a pretty damn tight game. For a while there, in the thrid, they were even on our side, and we caught up. But as soon as they switched back to calling US for penalties, I knew we were screwed…. That game was almost a half hour longer than a normal game, and it was because those refs got so much screen time. i don’t really buy any of the conspiracy theories regarding it, but there should be some kind of warning if they are going to be calling a game that tight…. some people had to get to work.

Precision in thought, concision in style, decision in life.

"That's MR.Styg..."

by Jeremy Bolander on Dec 28, 2009 4:02 PM MST up reply actions

That's funny styg~

some people had to get to work.

I am one that would let the players play and if you notice tere are some pretty good refs in the league who do just that. Don’t dictate the game, one way or another.

by bfree2bronc on Dec 28, 2009 8:30 PM MST up reply actions

I would like to take another shot at indy why not anything can happen !

by broncosfaninphilly on Dec 28, 2009 5:17 PM MST reply actions

Agreed

I don’t understand the “I hope my team doesn’t make the playoffs” sentiment at all. Yes, they are clearly not the best team in the AFC, but I for one root for my team to go as far as they possibly can. Why would I want the Jets and Ravens in and the Broncos out? I also think this team has proven they can play with teams like Indy. A few breaks here and there and we could do it! Stranger things have certainly happened. I also think playoff experience pays off in the long run for the younger players who have never had a taste of it.

by NoCalBroncoFan on Dec 28, 2009 6:31 PM MST up reply actions

Maybe the reason Caldwell pulled Manning was because he knew they could handle the Jets in the playoffs.

I don’t really think that the Colts could handle the Broncos a second time around. IMO the d got tired on that last drive, and they really frustrated Manning in the second half. The way to beat the Colts is to get pressure on Peyton. As for conspiracy theories, how about that NO DELAY OF GAME PENALTY? In all my years of watching, I have NEVER heard the explination that there was trouble spotting the ball.

by newby on Dec 28, 2009 6:52 PM MST reply actions

The Maclin

play was one of those plays that happen every week where it tough to tell if the correct call was made to begin with and whether it should be reversed or not but I wasn’t that upset they said it was catch in the end. The 2 plays that upset me a lot more were the penalty on Woodyard (one of worse calls of the year) and the non call on Stokley which led to him being ejected. The Broncos played hard but allowing McNabb to scramble for 25 yards was a killer.

by broncorob on Dec 28, 2009 7:25 PM MST reply actions