No, I looked at the one angle available for that play several times and never saw anything that looked like PI by either side. When you have a crowd like that, contact is going to happen. It is almost impossible to call interference on anyone. Really, though, the saddest part of that play was Graham’s missed sack – when you are going after an eel, you have to grab and hold on.
I’ve always wondered at the intelligence of letting women play field hockey. Women, in the competitive arena, with heavy sticks. :eek:
I’m not referring to the scrum in the end zone. I’m referring to this part of the Hail Mary:
Hogan was 20 yards downfield, in the open field, nowhere near a scrum of players, and he got decked hard by an Eagles DB. That’s a textbook case of illegal contact by the defender.
Link broken?
I’d like to see this again. I’ll look for it.
This reminds me of Cris Collinsworth’s comment just before the snap, that if he were the Eagles he’d jam Gronk at the line of scrimmage to prevent a clean run downfield by him. Great point, but the DBs were far away, at least 5-10 yds off the line.
Funny that he was decked, because the long shot shows him crossing the goal line a few yards left of the scrum. Apparently the contact had minimal effect.
At the very end, I thought I saw one of the Philadelphia players trying to intercept the ball and wound up batting it slightly up in the air. I’m always surprised when defensive players try to catch the ball when it would be better for their team to just bat it down to the turf. Perhaps he didn’t realize the time had expired and he wanted to make sure New England didn’t get another shot.
I just replayed that play. Here, I’m sure of the jersey #s but not of the names.
The ball was snapped at the NE 49.
When the play is originally shown:
When the play is over and time is expired the Eagles start to celebrate, but PHI #21 Bobby Taylor(?) sees NE WR #13 Joey Galloway(?) flat on his back, on the ground. Galloway can’t believe it’s over. Taylor bends down and gives him a hand to pull him up. A class move.
When they show the replays, I see two clear penalties:
— As the receivers are running downfield, at the 38 yard line a PHI DB (#21? Hard to tell) knocks NE WR #15 sideways, towards the middle of the field. A clear penalty, on PHI.
— Then at the 18 yard line, Gronk does a clear out move, with his right arm he shoves PHI DB #31 aside, towards the far sideline (to Gronk’s right) just as he turns to his left and looks for the pass. Another penalty, on NE.
Is one of these what you saw, Velocity?
Yes I saw that too. He tries to catch it and ends up knocking the ball up, giving it a little more hang time. Nobody tried to bat the ball down. PHI got lucky, there.
Umm, what decade are you living in?
There is a different angle, from ground level, that shows that shove. The zebras must have missed it, but the ground-level shot seems to look worse than what must have happened, because the long shot show #15 Hogan crossing the goal line right about the same time as the pass is coming down several yards to his right. Throwing a flag on action that had minimal impact on the play seems almost petty. But I am thinking all the officials were looking elsewhere.
You didn’t read my post, did you.
That other angle might be shown later. I don’t think it had minimal impact. His would’ve been another pair of hands going for the ball.
Yeah, that’s what I was referring to. Illegal contact by the Eagles against Hogan #15, and an offensive PI committed by Gronk as well.
I think he’s referring to the fact that Joey Galloway hasn’t played for the Patriots since 2009 (where he did, indeed, wear #13), and has been out of football since 2011. If you were trying to be funny with the Galloway reference, it was a big whoosh.
Didn’t it happen in one of the playoff games this year; a player intercepted a pass on fourth down and was quickly tackled? Cost his team about 20 yards.
As I was reminded that the Lingerie League was A Thing I thought “ooh la la” and went to look at some pictures.
Yes, attractive women for the most part but holy crap they look serious. Not just serious, maniacal. I thought NFL players had game faces but those ladies were no joke.
I was not trying to be funny. I said this in that post.
It may have happened. I don’t recall that, but I did not watch all of the wild card and divisional games.
I’m wondering why they weren’t called. You said the Hogan thing wasn’t seen by the refs, but surely they saw the Gronk thing.
I see the “let ‘em play” philosophy frequently exercised by officials at the conclusion of games. I think it goes with the idea that the game is basically over and delaying the conclusion with a penalty is an unnecessary extension of the game. I’ve seen this happen repeatedly during regular season games. And this was already happening in this game which was remarkable for how few penalties were thrown.
What would be the point in throwing a flag on Gronk which Philadelphia would decline anyway? Or two offsetting penalties? The clock expired.
Now, if the Eagles alone had made a blatant penalty against New England I could see a free play being allowed but I’d expect them to ignore anything else in the conclusion of the biggest football game of the season.
What you say makes sense, but okay, imagine they want to call the Gronk penalty but they wait until after the play is over. If the Pats score a TD, then they throw the flag? That’s a significant delay between the penalty occurring and the flag thrown.
On the other hand Gronk gets a pass on OPIs all the time. That’s nothing new. He’s treated differently than other players at that position because he’s Gronk.
Eh, you see late flags on PI all the time. It makes sense to wait a second - if the ball hits the ground, just let the game be over and everyone rush the field, and don’t deal with the bullshit of having an official have to talk to a coach and announce the call and have him announce the game is over. If anyone catches the ball, throw the flag, and figure everything out there.