Pass Interference Call

[Tombstone RJ]

I'm gonna say this because its true. There was a no call on the first pass intereference play in the endzone. That is when the Broncos passed the ball to Lelie on 4th down. Lelie tried to go for the ball, but the defender was in the way. All the defender did, is raise up his arms. He never once turned around and LOOKED for the ball.

That was pass interference. That penalty was NOT called. That was BS.

For me, the refs knew they blew that call, and they made up for it on the pass interference call that all the Pats fans are now disputing.

Tough chit. Broncos won. Good calls, bad calls, no calls all go both ways.

[halfcreek]

I'm gonna say this because its true. There was a no call on the first pass intereference play in the endzone. That is when the Broncos passed the ball to Lelie on 4th down. Lelie tried to go for the ball, but the defender was in the way. All the defender did, is raise up his arms. He never once turned around and LOOKED for the ball.

That was pass interference. That penalty was NOT called. That was BS.

For me, the refs knew they blew that call, and they made up for it on the pass interference call that all the Pats fans are now disputing.

Tough chit. Broncos won. Good calls, bad calls, no calls all go both ways.

On the non-call seemed like Lelie could have fought more for the ball which might have drawn the call.

[Northman]

Actually i remember him looking at the ball on that play but unless someone can drudge up that video clip i cant prove it. i didnt like the play call on third and inches.

[Tombstone RJ]

Actually i remember him looking at the ball on that play but unless someone can drudge up that video clip i cant prove it. i didnt like the play call on third and inches.

I never once saw him turn his head. I was amazed there wasn't a pass interference call. I was mad. Pissed. Scratching my head saying "WTF" was that?

[bloodsunday]

Good and bad calls happen in every game. If that was the decisive score in the game, I would certainly feel differently. But there was more than a half to go, so blaming that play is lame.

New England has had their fair of good fortune -- tuck rule anyone?.

[Tombstone RJ]

On the non-call seemed like Lelie could have fought more for the ball which might have drawn the call.

Lelie went for the ball. The defender simply raised his arms up. No head turn, no sight of ball. No pass interference call.

[DCCardsFan]

I think I'm relatively unbiased, so I'll give my take. It seems everybody thought it was a horrible call, and even some broncos fans admit as much, but I think.....

....that it was pass interference.

After all the talk about Samuel looking back for the ball, and Lelie giving him a tug, which he did, those are red herrings.

The facts are these. That the ball landed about 5 yards farther towards the post than where Lelie ended up. Lelie, who had located that ball, was trying to move over to get it. Samuels, who was gratuitously looking back, but most importantly, HAD NOT LOCATED THE BALL, was clearly playing the man. He was nudging Lelie towards the sidelines. Had the ball come down anywhere close to where Samuels/Lelie ended up, it would not be PI.

But the fact that Samuels manned up on Lelie and removed both of them from the play is why the refs made the call, the CORRECT call.

[Tombstone RJ]

Good and bad calls happen in every game. If that was the decisive score in the game, I would certainly feel differently. But there was more than a half to go, so blaming that play is lame.

New England has had their fair of good fortune -- tuck rule anyone?.

Thats not the point. The point is it was a no-call. Doesn't matter when it happened (or didn't happen). That's a first down on the .01 yard line if its called. Nuff said.

[Jason in LA]

I didn't think the first one was PI because the ball was overthrown. But I agree with the second one. The DB turned his head away from the ball as there was contact. He wasn't playing the ball like Simms said over and over. It was funny that as Simms said the DB looked at the ball the entire time the replay showed him looking away from the ball. If he looks at the ball the whole way it's not PI. But when the DB makes contact and isn't looking at the ball that's PI.

[Tombstone RJ]

I didn't think the first one was PI because the ball was overthrown. But I agree with the second one. The DB turned his head away from the ball as there was contact. He wasn't playing the ball like Simms said over and over. It was funny that as Simms said the DB looked at the ball the entire time the replay showed him looking away from the ball. If he looks at the ball the whole way it's not PI. But when the DB makes contact and isn't looking at the ball that's PI.

I think that ball was catchable, especially for Lelie who can make spectacular catches, if allowed.

[Garcia Bronco]

"Looking at the ball" doesn't mean glance at it and look away. You have to keep eye contact with the ball to make a play on the ball. Samuels did that in both instances...he glanced at the ball and then deliberately played the receiver. And I agree Tombstone..there should have been PI on the lob.

[Archie]

I think I'm relatively unbiased, so I'll give my take. It seems everybody thought it was a horrible call, and even some broncos fans admit as much, but I think.....

....that it was pass interference.

After all the talk about Samuel looking back for the ball, and Lelie giving him a tug, which he did, those are red herrings.

The facts are these. That the ball was thrown 4 or 5 yards farther towards the post than where Lelie ended up. Lelie, who had located that ball, was trying to move over to get it. Samuels, who was gratuitously looking back, but most importantly, HAD NOT LOCATED THE BALL, was clearly playing the man. He was nudging Lelie towards the sidelines. Had the ball come down anywhere close to where Samuels/Lelie ended up, it would not be PI.

But the fact that Samuels manned up on Lelie and removed both of them from the play is why the refs made the call, the CORRECT call.

I was at the game and on the far side of the field so it was hard to see. I was happy to get the call but it seemed at the time like it could have been a bad call. I saw my first replay this morning. What you just said is absolutley right on (although I'd still like to see a couple of more replays).

From the replay, Samuels is putting body on Lelie and moving him off the line to the ball. Two years ago, that would be incidental contact but with the rule changes - you can't put the body on the receiver. If Samuels is playing the ball and his body happens to be on Lelie then no call. But Samuels was putting body on Lelie and happened to look at the ball. Subtle but meaningful difference.

[Garcia Bronco]

I didn't think the first one was PI because the ball was overthrown. .


I think Lelie could have got it.

[broncoblue]

to be honest i couldnt care less weve had BS flags all season against us and we got it end of.

swings and roudabouts

[Garcia Bronco]

I think I'm relatively unbiased, so I'll give my take. It seems everybody thought it was a horrible call, and even some broncos fans admit as much, but I think.....

....that it was pass interference.

After all the talk about Samuel looking back for the ball, and Lelie giving him a tug, which he did, those are red herrings.

The facts are these. That the ball landed about 5 yards farther towards the post than where Lelie ended up. Lelie, who had located that ball, was trying to move over to get it. Samuels, who was gratuitously looking back, but most importantly, HAD NOT LOCATED THE BALL, was clearly playing the man. He was nudging Lelie towards the sidelines. Had the ball come down anywhere close to where Samuels/Lelie ended up, it would not be PI.

But the fact that Samuels manned up on Lelie and removed both of them from the play is why the refs made the call, the CORRECT call.


He was playing the man in both situations...and the second time the refs thought it was enough and tossed the flag.

[Tombstone RJ]

I think Lelie could have got it.

Exactly. He wasn't even allowed to get to the ball because the defender was blocking him, and NOT looking for the ball. Thats classic pass interference.

[elsid13]

Still wasn't a fan of the call on the 4 and 1. Liked going for it, just didn't like the play call.

[Archie]

Still wasn't a fan of the call on the 4 and 1. Liked going for it, just didn't like the play call.

Agreed - I was looking for a pitch outside or possibly a swing pass to Johnson. I'm not a big fan of the fade especially since it does not seem like we convert many of those. I only really remember like two this season.

[broncobum6162]

I'm gonna say this because its true. There was a no call on the first pass intereference play in the endzone. That is when the Broncos passed the ball to Lelie on 4th down. Lelie tried to go for the ball, but the defender was in the way. All the defender did, is raise up his arms. He never once turned around and LOOKED for the ball.

That was pass interference. That penalty was NOT called. That was BS.

For me, the refs knew they blew that call, and they made up for it on the pass interference call that all the Pats fans are now disputing.

Tough chit. Broncos won. Good calls, bad calls, no calls all go both ways.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I posted that same thing that the defender never looked at the ball on the 4th and 1 and that should have been interference. Also, we all have see PI called on less contact than the one called last nite.

[Priest Dante]

Either way, that "team" the Pats fielded wasn't going to win anyways. Good luck the rest of the way.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

It's a playoff game and the correct call is no call unless it's flagrant which it wasn't.

[bamanjam]

If they are going to run the fade then why wouldn't they go with Duke instead? He would have had a significant size difference on Samuels...

[orange 4 life]

I didn't think the first one was PI because the ball was overthrown. But I agree with the second one. The DB turned his head away from the ball as there was contact. He wasn't playing the ball like Simms said over and over. It was funny that as Simms said the DB looked at the ball the entire time the replay showed him looking away from the ball. If he looks at the ball the whole way it's not PI. But when the DB makes contact and isn't looking at the ball that's PI.

simms is a complete piece of crap when it comes to announcing.

im glad i was there and didnt have to listen to his mouth.

as for the call, those are the things that are hard to tell from our vantage point.
looked to me like the first one was questionable and the second one was a definate interference, though i was still surprised to see it called.

that said, there were some OTHER bad calls that went AGAINST us.
alexanders false start (their end was about to hit plummer by the time anyone on our side moved. TERRIBLE call.) that cost us a first down.
another no call pass interference (maybe making up for the one that WAS called) on lelie where the defender clearly hit him in the back before the ball arrived.
ANOTHER first down taken away.
a couple questionable late hits that werent called (which i actually agree with)
bottom line is the calls went both ways.
the better team won.

....and how sweet it was to see everyones superhero brady be the one to ice it by throwing that int to champ.

its brady, so im sure he'll get a pass, but that ball shouldnt have been thrown from my vantage point, and had it been plummer, the "jake sucks" threads would likely be in full force.

well, the monkey is off our back.
the plummer era is REALLY underway.
we've won the west, hosted a playoff game, and won a playoff game.
time to go the next step, but its been a pretty magical season already.

jake

ps- ill post the 12th man stats soon. INCREDIBLE job by the fans.
everyone was standing the ENTIRE game when they had the ball (hard for me with my back, but no complaints!!), the noise factor was like nothing we've ever heard in that stadium (and contrary to popular belief it has been VERY loud at times), the amount of orange exceeded anything we've seen since switching to the new uni's (and that includes old mile high), and the no shows were about 600. not quite the under 500 goal i was hoping for, but really good none the less. also, pretty much everyone stayed till the end.
magical night.

[Rock Chalk]

Either way, that "team" the Pats fielded wasn't going to win anyways. Good luck the rest of the way.
Agreed. They turned into a mini-Colt team instead of sticking to what won them championships.

[maven]

Still wasn't a fan of the call on the 4 and 1. Liked going for it, just didn't like the play call.

If you're going to throw the fade, give it to the DUKE! Otherwise, I hate the fade. And of all plays to call on 4 & 1, the fade? Damn, I thought it was a terrible call.

[Swedish Extrovert]

I'm gonna say this because its true. There was a no call on the first pass intereference play in the endzone. That is when the Broncos passed the ball to Lelie on 4th down. Lelie tried to go for the ball, but the defender was in the way. All the defender did, is raise up his arms. He never once turned around and LOOKED for the ball.

That was pass interference. That penalty was NOT called. That was BS.

For me, the refs knew they blew that call, and they made up for it on the pass interference call that all the Pats fans are now disputing.

Tough chit. Broncos won. Good calls, bad calls, no calls all go both ways.

Thats excactly what I was telling all my friends that are Pats fans.

Unfotrunatley my work center is a ****ing Pats circle jerk. Im going to have to go into work Tuesday with hearing about the PI nonstop.

[40yrpatsfan]

Trust me, this is not sour grapes, I'd say the exact same thing if the roles were reversed:

Neither play was pass interference, not by the letter of the rule, and certainly should not have been called in this context. Playoff games should never be decided by ticky tack calls.

By the way, the PI rule does not reference whether the defender is looking at the ball or not. I used to think that too, I thought it was common knowledge that you couldn't "face-guard" with your back to the QB.

But the director of NFL officiating went to great lengths to explain that a couple of years ago during another playoff PI fiasco. It's only about contact, not about whether you're looking. Look it up, I kid you not.

If the roles were reversed and that call went against a Broncos DB, awarding the Patirots a free TD, think how you would have felt about that call. It was a really awful call, and the other play you refer to was not PI either.

[Garcia Bronco]

Trust me, this is not sour grapes, I'd say the exact same thing if the roles were reversed:

Neither play was pass interference, not by the letter of the rule, and certainly should not have been called in this context. Playoff games should never be decided by ticky tack calls.

By the way, the PI rule does not reference whether the defender is looking at the ball or not. I used to think that too, I thought it was common knowledge that you couldn't "face-guard" with your back to the QB.

.


You have to play the ball...clearly in both situations he didn't do that. The fact that you make note of it not violating the "letter" of the law tells me you admit that the call was at least 49% correct. The point of the rule is to play for the ball...if you're not looking for the ball...you're playing the receiver. So it violated the spirit of the law.

[40yrpatsfan]

You have to play the ball...clearly in both situations he didn't do that. The fact that you make note of it not violating the "letter" of the law tells me you admit that the call was at least 49% correct. The point of the rule is to play for the ball...if you're not looking for the ball...you're playing the receiver. So it violated the spirit of the law.

No, what I'm saying is that the rule isn't what you think, nor what I thought it was. It's OK to play the man, not the ball. The only criteria is contact. The NFL explained that clearly a couple of years ago.

Regardless, the Pats had so many other opportunities. The Bailey play was more pivotal than the PI. But the PI call was bad officiating.

[Blueflame]

Trust me, this is not sour grapes, I'd say the exact same thing if the roles were reversed:

Neither play was pass interference, not by the letter of the rule, and certainly should not have been called in this context. Playoff games should never be decided by ticky tack calls.

By the way, the PI rule does not reference whether the defender is looking at the ball or not. I used to think that too, I thought it was common knowledge that you couldn't "face-guard" with your back to the QB.

But the director of NFL officiating went to great lengths to explain that a couple of years ago during another playoff PI fiasco. It's only about contact, not about whether you're looking. Look it up, I kid you not.

If the roles were reversed and that call went against a Broncos DB, awarding the Patirots a free TD, think how you would have felt about that call. It was a really awful call, and the other play you refer to was not PI either.

The minute I saw it was Jeff Triplett's officiating crew, I knew there would be controversial calls in the game.

OK, so I've seen similar plays where the PI wasn't called... I've also seen PI called for less contact. There were iffy calls (and non-calls) made on both teams. And while I understand Pats fans feeling that their team was hosed and that a bad call may have changed the outcome of the game, I also will state unequivocally that a team that turns over the ball five times normally cannot reasonably expect to win the game. End of story.

[anthonypacino]

Manning and Brady are the "golden boys" i think it's almost like the NBA the higer calibur player you are the less fouls the call on you, the league wants the stars to shine in the games, the NFL wants Manning to win so bad the refs are a little shy to pull that laundry

[Blueflame]

Manning and Brady are the "golden boys" i think it's almost like the NBA the higer calibur player you are the less fouls the call on you, the league wants the stars to shine in the games, the NFL wants Manning to win so bad the refs are a little shy to pull that laundry

Yeah... today's officiating has been somewhat questionable as well...

[anthonypacino]

Yeah... today's officiating has been somewhat questionable as well...
it sure is the only thing the Steelers can do is what they are doing, pound it down their throats and hold on to the ball.

[Blueflame]

it sure is the only thing the Steelers can do is what they are doing, pound it down their throats and hold on to the ball.

Fortunately for the Steelers, they have the personnel to do just that. And their defense seems to be getting to a rusty Peyton. Looks like the SB will be Manning-less. ;D

[Kaylore]

Watch the play. Samuel stops looking at the ball and starts shoving Lelie. The PI call was legit.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I didn't think the first one was PI because the ball was overthrown. But I agree with the second one. The DB turned his head away from the ball as there was contact. He wasn't playing the ball like Simms said over and over. It was funny that as Simms said the DB looked at the ball the entire time the replay showed him looking away from the ball. If he looks at the ball the whole way it's not PI. But when the DB makes contact and isn't looking at the ball that's PI.

Yep.

And he shoved our WR out of bounds while the ball was still in play.

[Bronco Bob]

Manning and Brady are the "golden boys" i think it's almost like the NBA the higer calibur player you are the less fouls the call on you, the league wants the stars to shine in the games, the NFL wants Manning to win so bad the refs are a little shy to pull that laundry


Conversely there are players that get flag more on reputation than
on what they do on the field. Example: the helmet to helmet call
on Lynch in the Chiefs game that probably won the game for the Chiefs,
as they scored on the next play instead of having to kick a field goal.

[Popps]

On the non-call seemed like Lelie could have fought more for the ball which might have drawn the call.

Been saying that for years.

Lelie is not a fighter. You'll rarely see that guy go up in traffic and out-battle guys for a ball.

That's what made that call even more perplexing. If you're going to try a low-percentage play like that, at least throw it up to Rod Smith.... who you know is going to bust his @$$ to bring it down.

[Needa Pass Rush]

I never once saw him turn his head. I was amazed there wasn't a pass interference call. I was mad. Pissed. Scratching my head saying "WTF" was that?

They allow contact within 5yds of the LOS. That was my read. Who cares. No time to look back now. :~ohyah!:

[Rohirrim]

That call shouldn't have been made in a playoff game.

[Kaylore]

I'm telling you guys, I've Tivod the game. Watch Asante Samuel. He takes his eyes off the ball and starts "choking" Lelie's route. Tie goes to the offender in most cases.

[Rohirrim]

It's all moot. The call had little to do with the final outcome, although Patsyfan wants to hold onto it like his security blankie. When you cough up the ball five times, you lose.