The reason is that you have a whole bunch of players - possible receivers and defenders - close together in a relatively small area of the field. The one or two officials nearby have a lot of moving bodies to observe simultaneously. So it's a lot easier for a player to get away with such a push than under the more usual circumstance when you have one receiver and one defender isolated in an area looking for the pass as it arrives.To be fair, interference is never called on a Hail Mary play. For either side. I am not sure why.
That, and the fact that a main hope of the “Hail Mary” pass is a defensive pass interference call, which would give the offense one more play, with the ball on the 2-yard line.Furthermore, calling offensive pass interference is relatively rare no matter what the circumstances.I would think that knowledge of that would make the refs reluctant to call interference, thereby becoming the story. As they certainly did in this case, anyway.
But even rarer is a call of "simultaneous catch" on any play on any level of football, let alone on the last decisive play of the game. This was not a circumstance of of a "simultaneous catch," however, since the defensive player clearly had firm possession of the ball before he hit the ground and maintained that possession until he hit the ground. The offensive player's reaching around the defender's body to get both hands on the ball late as he is lying on the ground does not constitute simultaneous possession. Yet the official was badly fooled by this desperation trick.
That is a whole different point - the fact that attempts to fool the ref are taken for granted. I’ve never fully reconciled myself to that corruption, tho I confess to having committed it myself when the opportunity pressed itself on me in a softball game once. A pitcher, I was playing out of position at second base when a runner stole second. The catcher threw him out - as long as you don’t know that the ball popped out of my glove into my close by right hand. The ref couldn’t see that, and I couldn’t bring myself to disappoint my teammates by pointing out what only I knew. Everyone expected “gamesmanship" in that situation. And there it is . . .
Two little corrections:
(1) In the NFL, defensive pass interference in the end zone as time runs out gives the offense one additional play with the ball on the one yard line. (Under college rules, the additional play would originate on the two yard line.)
(2) In the softball game you mentioned, you fooled the umpire, not the ref.
In this NFL mess, people are often mistakenly calling all the guys who wear striped shirts "refs," rather than "officials." Actually, the designation of "referee" in football only refers to the specific official who normally takes a position behind the offense during a scrimmage down. He wears a distinctive cap compared to his six fellow on-field officials, and is considered the chief of the officiating crew.