1. Regarding the non-facemask call on the last play of Arizona-Green Bay: I've watched the TiVoed combination of replays six times now. Arizona's Michael Adams blitzes, dislodges the ball from Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, rakes his hands over the facemask of Rodgers, then appears to grab the facemask, and the ball is inadvertently kicked by Rodgers.The ball flies briefly into the air and is grabbed by Arizona linebacker Karlos Dansby, who secures it and runs into the end zone for the winning touchdown. Adams keeps his hands on the mask as he plows into Rodgers and brings him to the ground. Adams didn't tackle him by the mask, but his hand did stay secured on the mask as Rodgers fell to the ground. (I say it that way because from the mountain of e-mails and Tweets last night, most of you think he got yanked to the ground by the facemask. It didn't appear that way to me.)
For a facemask penalty to be called, there has to be evidence not just of a hand on the mask, but of twisting and pulling of the facemask. And there is a slight pulling of it, but not in a flagrant way. To me, it's a close call. But what complicates matters is this: The referee, Scott Green, is the official on the crew with the responsibility of watching plays involving the quarterback. Once the ball has been dislodged, Green has to watch the ball, not the contact on the quarterback. He has to see if the ball hits the ground and judge if it's a forward pass or a fumble, then he has to follow the live ball until the end of the play. So Green could not -- at least, he should not -- have seen the contact on the mask of Rodgers.
Of course, the reason this is a big concern is if a facemask had been called, Green Bay would have had a first down at its 32 in a game where defense was optional. I don't see how the call could have been made any differently with the current rules and officiating assignments the way they are.
2. Re the non-tuck-rule call on the last play of Arizona-Green Bay: the ball, once it somehow became dislodged from Rodgers, never hit the ground. If the ball doesn't hit the ground, it's live, and the tuck rule doesn't apply.
I didn't have a dog in this fight as I would have been happy no matter who won. But this 'non-call' is much ado about nothing.
The calls in important games, like the playoffs, are really hard on the refs.
If they make too many calls, the fans say that the refs are interfering with the game. If they make too few calls and just let the guys just play, then the get scorched from the losing side.
Adams redeemed himself for all those penalties he had earlier in the game-at least three and maybe more pass interference calls on him. The Pack was gunning for him.
On the other hand, since the ball had already left Roger’s possession, shouldn’t the personal foul have been assessed after the touchdown? But at that point, the game was over by sudden death.
That being said, where was Don Capers? Arizona must have watched the Pittsburgh tapes and concluded that they could, rightly so, expose the Green Bay secondary.
You would have thought Capers would have tried to solve that problem. Maybe a few more blitzes to get in Warner's face.