It seemed like the refs early on decided they would not be throwing many flags, which is fine as long as it is consistent. While there could have been a PI call on that last play, I wouldn't call it obvious. As many have mentioned, the 49ers benefited greatly from the non-call when Flacco was clearly roughed the series prior. I think in the regular season that gets called 99 times out of 100.
Ultimately, I thought the Ravens played a better game beginning to end. They made less silly mistakes and deserved to win. The 49ers were the better team, but they made too many costly mistakes early on to deserve this win.
2 turnovers and a kick return for a TD - and the game still went down to the last 90 seconds.
that's having to overcome a lot.
Flacco is a solid runner and on a drive earlier in the game, he completed a 30 yard pass while running out of bounds; the defensive players have to have the chance to play actual defense. I was stunned it wasn't called, but only because they always call hits on the QB and not because he was so clearly out of bounds.
I agree with the rest of what you said - the 4th down PI isn't an issue if the 49ers had done anything on the previous 3 plays. I have no idea how they decided not to run the ball with Kaepernick there; I have to believe a roll-out pass/run option would have worked there.
And to my everlasting shock, Joe Flacco was the best player on the field. And the best player in the playoffs.
Ray Lewis, on the other hand, looked as he has for the past 4 years. Like a below average MLB.
I don't buy the notion that refs shouldn't influence the outcome late in the game by throwing flags. Not calling an obvious foul also influences the game's outcome, and favors the team that broke the rules. Anything that is called in the first quarter should be called in the fourth quarter.
if we didn't want refs influencing the game we'd self-regulate.
except we can't.
so we ask refs to influence the game with calls. early, late, whenever. not calling a penalty late IS INFLUENCING THE GAME just as much as calling it would be.
i'm not disagreeing with you...just using the opportunity to remind everyone the notion "refs shouldn't influence the game" is pure nonsense. whether they do or don't call something, they're influencing the outcome.
their entire purpose is to influence the game.
there's a 49'er in the middle of the field that gets bearhugged. He was in position to make the tackle early in the run.
Bearhugged by two guys, front and back, if I remember correctly. I know the blocking rules are fairly liberal now, but that struck me as an obvious hold.
they let a lot of things go on, the players all got away with stuff from late hits to hits to the head. I felt I was objective too, I didn't care who won and I think the no calls were about even. It was a weird game thought with the power outage and I don't think the Harbaughs will be having Easter diner together.
as he was capable of.
one of the Baltimore players pushed the ref and that is supposed to be an automatic ejection.
I think the game was too big for this particular crew. They did an awful job. The NFL really needs to get their shit together.
He should've been kicked out.
Williams didn't see who he pushed so it's possible he thought it was a player he was pushing out of the way. He never really looked at the guy.
I know the rule states that when you push a ref it's an ejection, but I think the ref showed solid judgment there in realizing that Williams probably had no idea he was pushing a ref.
I don't think the officials did that bad a job last night. Every crew is going to miss some calls. It happens, even to the best crews.
it is the rule. He should have been ejected. That is not the right call at all and you are completely wrong.
You cannot be serious, Jerome Boger's crew. One of your men, head linesman Steve Stelljes, a Super Bowl official who theoretically was the best head linesman in the league this year, gets two-handed shoved by Baltimore cornerback Cary Williams and Williams not only doesn't get thrown out BUT ALSO DOESN'T GET PENALIZED? Awful. Just awful. I don't care how big a game this is, and you don't want to leave a team one man short. Williams has to get thrown out for that. Stelljes blew that one big time.
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130204/baltimore-ravens-win-super-bowl-xlvii-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/#ixzz2JwY98VgR
It looked like Williams got up and was ready to shove whoever put his hands on him, and it turned out to be a ref. Williams extended his arms without looking and then when he saw it was a ref he eased up, but too late. I am shocked it was not a penalty at the very least. I think the ref showed too much leniency there, although I can understand him not making the call.
I'm surprised that did not get more attention on the broadcast.
You cannot contact an official. He should have been thrown out. And Williams was out of control for most of the 1st half. Taunting after every play, head butting people, etc.
Of taunting, late hitting, cheap-shotting. In fact, I thought they were worse. But that guy should have been ejected, as should the guy from the Niners who started the whole melee.
I think it makes a world of difference. So if there is a scrum on the field and an official, who is trying to break up the pile on the ground, gets bumped by someone trying to get up, should he also be kicked out?
I mean you just said there is absolutely no contact of an official allowed.
and Justin Smith got ejected.
And that is what should have happened Ty, because, you know, those are the fucking rules.
And allow the official to infer intent. But, currently, it doesn't. If you initiate and make direct contact with the official, you should be ejected.
And it's one thing to accidetally bump the official. It's another to give him a two-handed shove. In the latter situation, you can apply the doctrine of transferred intent - Williams meant to be an asshole by shoving someone - he may not have realized it was an official, but he was still being an asshole.
If Williams shoved a player with two hands, he wouldn't get ejected. The rule is nuanced enough and gives the refs enough leeway to apply some judgment to it. And in that instance, the official who was shoved believed Williams was party of a melee and shoved him out of the way likely thinking it was another player.
The intent of the rule is to prevent players from shoving, hitting, tackling refs out of frustration over calls, etc. That's not what happened there.
Again, if there is a scrum on the field and an official tries to pull off a guy and that guy gets up angrily and knocks over the ref, he's likely not going to be ejected. Because a good ref will understand the situation and realize that the player wasn't intending to knock a ref on his ass, probably like how the ref assumed Williams didn't realize he was shoving an official.
And one more point, Williams may have been a punk in the first half, but he was met, or exceeded, by quite a few 49ers players when it came to jawing, pushing, etc. And I say that as someone who didn't want the Ravens to win simply because I didn't want Ray Lewis to go out a winner.
has called it in the past. For example, what's worse - what Justin Smith does below, or what Cary Williams did last night? After all, Smith is just trying to get to the Charger player. And he puts his hand on the official.
He shoved him aside knowing it was an official he was touching. Williams appears to have not even seen that it was a ref next to him, he never turns his head.
And honestly, in the Smith case, I think an argument can be made that the official didn't have to have his foreman jabbed into his chest shoving Smith back. I think officials (in all sports) can get a bit too big for their britches. That doesn't mean players should be able to hit officials, but I can see why Smith would do what he did there.
I get it that some experts say it's a no brainer call and there is no room for interpretation, but I think there should be. Because what Williams did is no different to me than a player angrily knocking a ref over after he bounces up from a fight on the ground.
it is a no brainer.