The Dolphins look like a mess.
Getting crushed by a 2-5 team in prime time isn’t a great look.
The ref definitely screwed the Dolphins over with one call in the first half where a Dolphins player (Ollie Gordon) accidentally slipped and fell on the turf in front of a Raven and the ref claimed it was intentional clipping/tripping. Never seen that before.
Cost the Dolphins a would-have-been trip to deep inside the Ravens’ red zone.
Look at the video in the article.
It looks to me like his left foot slid to the right into his right foot and he tripped. It wasn’t the usual slip where a player’s foot dramatically slips out from under him, so it might have looked intentional in real time, but in slow motion it’s obvious he slipped. That was a bad call and a review should have cleared it up.
Obviously the Dolphins stank and one play didn’t cost them the game, but it was definitely an officiating blunder regardless.
Officiating has been really bad this season. It was particularly bad in the Giants game last week. (The “tush push fumble that wasn’t” was particularly galling.)
It was even more obvious that he never actually, you know, made contact with the defender. [If that is irrelevant as far as the application of the rule is concerned, my objection is hereby withdrawn.]
Well, he did, in the sense that he and the defender physically touched each other.
Of course, he didn’t trip the defender, because the defender didn’t trip.
This is the actual NFL rulebook:
The rule is written very simply.
All players are prohibited from:
tripping an opponent, including the runner;
That’s it. No elaboration. The opponent didn’t trip, he ran and sort-of jumped over the guy and kept going. It’s not even that the officials didn’t see it properly and didn’t review what was clearly a significant play, but they called a penalty for something they couldn’t have seen because it didn’t happen.
The officials aren’t the only ones who look bad in the wake of this.
Also, I’d like to point this out:
New rule this year that allows for replay review for roughing penalty, which includes:
- Tripping penalties, where “there is clear and obvious video evidence that the player’s leg or foot did not contact the opponent;”
The fact that this didn’t happen is such BS.
I happened to take out my contact lenses before turning this one off last night and, based on the TV audio, they SOUNDED like a mess.
I didn’t watch the game. Could the Dolphins have protested the call?
From what I can determine, no. These kinds of calls are judgement calls for the officials, and you can’t throw a challenge flag. I mean, they can complain to the officials (and I’m sure they did, as probably happens with many penalties) but they can’t prompt for a review themselves.
And the replay officials can act on their own initiative when a flag like this is thrown.
Replay officials located in NFL stadium replay booths and designated members of the NFL officiating department in Art McNally GameDay Central at the league office in New York may provide on-field officials with objective information regarding on-field rulings, the correct application of playing rules.
Before, replay officials were only permitted to provide input on limited administrative issues and during replay reviews. Now, they can proactively assist in situations where clear and obvious video evidence is quickly available to assist the on-field officials on objective rulings.
It just boggles my mind that nothing was done for a play like this, which was so impactful for the game. You’d expect that they would want to get it right. It wasn’t just the folks on the field that screwed up.
wild conspiracy theory/
The league is in the bag for the Ravens (great comeback of the ages, Lamar MVP…yadda yadda yadda). Miami’s going nowhere, Ravens can boost (ad revenue) the game.
/end WCT
I think it’s more likely that they screwed up. The conspiracy theory doesn’t really work for two reasons.
-
The Ravens have an awful record, and even after this win they are only 3-5. If the NFL is invested in helping them win, they’ve been doing an awful job.
-
They didn’t need to throw a bogus flag on purpose for the Ravens to win. The score was 14-3 at the time the flag was thrown, and the final score was 28-6. The Ravens did not need help from the officials to win this game at all, and especially not at that point in the game.
If this was a bogus penalty on someone who barely touched Jackson and got called for roughing, I could buy that as playing favorites, but the circumstances around this whole thing don’t even make sense if you take it as a given that the NFL is corrupt and the officials are in on it. That would look different in my opinion.
I’m totally willing to attribute it to incompetence than malice. The zebras have a tough job and are known to screw up from time to time. It happens. Especially when it comes to protecting high profile QBs. They’d hear it worse if for non-calls on roughing. It sucks being a fan on the receiving end of a mistake, but most fans still prefer the idea of having human officials on the field.
And nobody can claim the ratbirds needed any extra help that game. Miami came looking ready for a high school scrimmage.
The Ravens are the current Vegas favorites to win the division. This was the case before the Thursday night game as well.
Interesting, given the Steelers have 1 more win and 2 fewer losses. Then again, their wins were against the Jets, Vikings, Patriots, and Browns, while the Ravens have lost to tougher teams (Bills, Lions, Chiefs, Rams, Texans). I’d argue the only good team the Steelers beat were the Patriots, while the only bad team to beat the Ravens were the Texans (and the Texans aren’t awful, just not very good). And of course, the Ravens did a lot of that without Jackson.
So, I can see how the Ravens might be considered the most likely to win it over the long haul, regardless of current record.
Baltimore’s only divisional game so far this season was a win against Cleveland. So they have another game against the Browns and 2 more against the Bengals plus the 2 against Pittsburgh, who already have a loss against the Bengals.
Those 2 games they play against each other probably decide the division.
The Dolphins sacked GM Chris Greer today, and not head coach Mike McDaniel; reports are that McDaniel is expected to remain as coach through the end of the season.
It would, of course, not be surprising if a new GM brings in a new coach after year-end.
Has anybody else noticed an increase in neck tackling? Catch the ball carrier from behind, grab the back of their neck and pull them down to the ground. It looks every bit as bad as a horse collar or face mask but it consistently doesn’t get flagged, so I can only assume it’s legal. I don’t remember seeing it much before, but this season I’m seeing it a lot. I was reminded again last night where I saw several neck tackles.
The crowd generally reacts like they’re expecting a penalty, and so do I. But I don’t recall ever seeing it flagged.