NFL: Polamalu overturned interception the wrong call

ESPN Online ^ | 1/16/06 | AP

[TheBigB]

NEW YORK -- The NFL said the referee made a mistake: Troy Polamalu caught the ball.

The league acknowledged Monday that referee Pete Morelli erred when he overturned on replay Polamalu's interception of a Peyton Manning pass Sunday in the playoff game between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.

Mike Pereira, the league's vice president of officiating, said in a statement that Morelli should have upheld the call, made with 5:26 left in Pittsburgh's win over the Colts.

[beyond the sea]

No/////????

[beyond the sea]

"wasn't paying attention" ---- LOL.

[Petronski]

YOU'RE WELCOME, CITIZEN!

[beyond the sea]

I saw it just like the ref did. No interception, Colts ball. League coming out and making a statement is bogus and bad for the game. Steelers won, no harm no foul. What's to purpose to bring out an internal problem. There's more to the story.

Yeh, they're going to find out the ref is Karl Rove's cousin.

[Mr. Mojo]

And the refs deliberated over 5 minutes before arriving at their conclusion, quite enough time to consult the rulebook. Total incompetence.

[diamond6]

And you think I didn't know that? :-)

[oneofmany]

I live in Pitts. area and have always been a Steelers fan. I personally think that there was some "fix" in. No one can tell me that that call could stand after replay.

[Mr. Mojo]

I wonder if the NFL would've acknowledged the call was wrong had the Colts won the game? < / rhetorical question >

[beyond the sea]

Had the Steelers lost, I suspect the NFL would have said nothing.

That's probably right. What a shame.

[beyond the sea]

A few weeks ago some newsette/reporterette remarked to Troy that his hair was so long it covers up his name on his uniform.

Troy said, "My hair is my name."

LOL.

[beyond the sea]

And you think I didn't know that? :-)

Your credibility is right up there with Hillary's.

;-)

[oneofmany]

No, I don't think so. I've noticed over the years that the officiating is pretty good overall during the reg. season and in the Super Bowl. The playoffs always seem to have many more controversial calls than any other time. Why is this?...Someone should do a study.....

[Skooz]

Had the Steelers lost, I suspect the NFL would have said nothing.

Well, they may have said "oops." They have before.

[diamond6]

And you're BEYOND help.

[RightWhale]

The teams in the playoffs are the best at pushing the rules, so there should be more questionable events. The Superbowl is still so special that the teams don't push the rules at all, and on top of that they are usually very conservative in play selection.

[rudy45]

My understanding is that a player is "down" when any part of his body OTHER THAN a hand or foot is touching the ground.

[oneofmany]

I agree, but I'm talking about controversial calls of plays that are obviously not questionable after review. Like the one in the Steelers game.

[Radix]

"As much pain the Pats have given our Steelers the past years, that is the way it should have been."

Wait til next year. We'll kick your ass again.

Go Steelers this year though. They almost got screwed yesterday.

[Physicist]

My understanding is that a player is "down" when any part of his body OTHER THAN a hand or foot is touching the ground.

No, he's not "down" unless an opposing player either caused him to touch the ground by making contact with him, or made contact with him while he was on the ground.

[RightWhale]

Don't they show replays from 20 different angles on the big screen so everybody in the stadium as well as the officials can see if the ball touched a blade of 'grass' or not? The officials don't have any less information that the spectators, unlike baseball where everybody but the umpire can clearly see if the pitch was inside the strike zone or was thrown to first before the runner touched the bag.