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Decker's Bobbled Balls? Noo. Everybody's wrong. Bronco Mike, Can I get a gif.

Bobbles no bobbles


For all those that debated the Decker play, there is 1 sticking point that can't be denied. And it goes back to the play Julius Thomas made against the Giants. Its the first thing that came to mind when I saw the play, and its the same reason it was a Touchdown. Everyone is under the assumption he was still in the act of catching the ball. While in that act, everyone including Bronco Mike said he bobbled the ball and caught it. But when you look at the play, he didn't bobble the ball at all. It hit both hands, and Decker (who I'm sure ran the play a million times in practice) had the presence of mind to adjust the ball and reach for the pylon in 1 motion.

Make no mistake, he was in such control of the ball and his body, he could've stayed upright and dragged both feet for the possession at the 1. Reached across the line, and still got the Touchdown. He was trying to be safe by TOUCHING the pylon, in affect ending the play. But at 6'3 he had to reach down (in an attempt to REACH the pylon) with all that weight and momentum and try to make the play. If Welker does the same, its an easier call for the ref. But regardless, the play was over when he broke the plain of the end zone. Touchdown.

Proponents who said it wasn't a catch

You all that said he lost control going to the ground are thinking of the play wrong. I think you all are thinking in terms of him moving laterally (side to side) heading out of bounds, as oppose to moving vertically (up and down the field). Makes since because if he was in the motion of making the catch while his momentum was carrying him out of bounds, then he loses control going out of bounds (moving laterally) when he hit the ground. However, if you take that same situation, and the players shoulders are pointed towards the end zone, and not out of bounds, then you can understand what we who think it was a Touchdown mean.

For Instance. Say a player is running a fade/go route from 20 yards out. The QB is throwing away from the safety so he throws it to the outside shoulder. The WR, catching a ball over his outside shoulder, is going towards the end zone. When he catches the ball at the 4, in full stride, he adjust, and dives for the pylon in 1 motion (while taking 2 steps). Dives for the pylon from the 3, and touches the pylon, but the ball goes flying. Would that be a score? Yes. Why? He makes a football move with 2 steps and the dive. Decker does the same exact thing, he just rotates his hips, and reaches the ball to touch the pylon. The misconception is that he didn't have control of the ball when it hit his hands and that's wrong. Watch the play again. You'll see he was fully aware of exactly where he was on the field, and in 1 motion was making a play(or trying to).

Now the most you can say is that he should have just dragged his feet in bounds and reached across the line. It wasn't like the ball was coming screaming into his hands causing him to be out of control; thus making it hard to maintain control going out of bounds. But again, he was trying to be safe by not exposing the ball for defender to knock it out, in essence, touching the pylon. Play over.

[Sidenote: When Julius Thomas exposed the ball in that giants game to SCORE the Touchdown I was thinking to myself, I hope he never does that and someone knocks it out. Because something similar happened to the rookie receiver Williams for the Cowboys against the chargers. Same to Hillman when he tried to jump over that pile in the preseason. Decker was making the safe play.]

Whose to Blame?

The question remains, whose to blame. Decker didn't help the situation by getting up with a lack of confidence that he made the play. He looked at the ref like he was expecting a break, when he should have jumped up jubilant that he had just made a play. It's similar to when a defender will grab, hold, or be guilty of pass interference. He'll know he was wrong and the first thing he will do is put both hands up like the police told him to "freeze". And the first thing the ref will do is throw the flag. Crisis of Concsious. The defender will yell and curse and claim he didn't touch him. And so on and so forth.

All night the DB's of the Colts WERE holding, grabbing, and getting away with it why? They were acting as if they did nothing wrong, and moved on to the next play. Even when they were called they were still on to the next play. When a ref uncertain about a play (which he was as evidenced by his hesitation to make the call), you don't help it by staring like boo boo the fool, which Decker did.

So whose to blame? Is it Foxy for not challenging? Noo. Is it Decker for lack in confidence? Wrong again. With ALL scoring plays being reviewed, the ref was at no fault of calling it a Touchdown. That why they let fumbles they aren't sure, continue to play out. Because they can check it later(Trevathon). What was the worst that could happen? Him getting cited by the league? Maybe reprimanded by his fellow co-harts? Or worse even, him being boo'd by the fans! No, no, and no. F@*% if it was a bang bang play or no. That ref had zero to lose by calling the play properly. Chuck wouldn't have had to raise 1 finger to challenge because ALL SCORING PLAYS ARE REVIEWED. Even the easy ones. The hard ones. And all in between. ALL. Foxy with the way the refs were acting all night probably didn't want to test the waters and felt we would punch it in anyway (vanity). But that red flag likely would've negated the 5 yard penalty that occurred when Manning said they didn't reset the clock. Regardless, that ref skrewed the pooch, and ultimately the Broncos. Maybe he needs a refresher course or something. This was an easy call, and even easier fix if he was wrong. He must've been nervous like Rahim Moore or something and over thought it. But this one had nothing to do with the broncos, and everything to do with him making the right {clear throat} wrong call.

Need more proof. Can I get 2 gifs!

Can someone get the slow motion gif of the JT play from the side angle, and the Decker side angle in the comments it would be GREATLY appreciated. I'm not the most computer savy, so I wouldn't know how to get the 2 plays from my DVR to the computer. So maybe someone can help. But the plays are close to Identical. People just think Decker bobbled the ball and he didn't.

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