how about Ben's fumble that should've been a turnover, but because the refs couldn't, by replay, figure out who came out with the ball, pretty much gave the game to pittsburgh?

Either Ben's fumble was a TD or touchback. The Dolphnis clearly recovered, but if they didn't know flip a coin. Makes no sense to put in on the goal line.

Matt K - If you read the whole article thoroughly, you would have read the part where Peter referring to that play:

"If you want to go outside the confines of last night's game, you don't have to go far. The Miami Dolphins feel they got a win stolen from them yesterday because of a poorly administered replay on that goal line fumble by Ben Roethlisberger"

Do the coaches for each team in the booth have access to the raw television feeds? It seems like that would solve the home team advantage problem- just give both coaches access to all the TV feeds. It seems kind of goofy that a coach has to get his cue to challenge from the jumbotron anyway- you would expect him to have people whose job it is to examine these plays before the replay makes it to tv or the stadium jumbotron.

As for the Steelers fumble in the end zone. I think that is simply inexcusable. I understand the idea that if the call is a touchdown they aren't watching for what happens to the ball, but I just can't believe that with as many cameras as they have trained on goal line plays, from every angle possible, that they couldn't determine who had possession. As well, even on a TD call, if the ball comes out anywhere close to being a fumble prior to the goal line the referee's simply MUST follow where the ball goes. If it's a TD no harm done, but if a replay shows fumble they need to know who ended up with the ball. What do they have to do after a TD that is more important, anyway? That one blown call turned the game and may end up affecting the postseason, and that simply can't happen.

Bravo, Andrew, you are exactly correct. Too many times the official's call STOPS the play dead, so that when replay shows that, for example, a turnover occurred, the officials have no way that they can play the wronged team in the same position as if they had made the correct call from the beginning. It seems that the prevailing rule position on all calls of this nature should be that it's a fumble or a catch, so that the play continues to its natural conclusion. Then, if replay shows that it wasn't a fumble or wasn't a catch, the officials can place the team who won the challenge in the position they actually would have been in if the correct call had been made. The problem with the Rothlisberger call - other than the Head Linesman calling a TD when we know for a fact that Rothlisberger did not have the ball, meaning the HL guessed rather than saw what happened - is that the ball ended up in the end zone and the call should have been either TD or touchback. The one place the ball absolutely, positively did not belong was on the half yard line. Bad call by the HL; bad decision by the officials.

I was at yesterday's Ravens game, and I noticed the same thing. If the replay was in the Ravens' favor, the Super Colossal JumboTron immediately began showing it - and freeze framing the video at the pertinent moment. If the reply was going to help Buffalo, it was nowhere to be seen.

The conspiracy struck again against the Dolphins and for the Steelers with Roethlisberger's fumble.
Maybe Art Bell could check into this?
The officials have to stop giving the Steelers extra touchdowns.

The Jumbo screen in one thing, but both teams should have equal access to all of the video feeds. The only advantage between two teams playing in a particular venue should be the cheer of the fans, period, not the video feed or the db level of the sound system. The game is played between the white lines and strategized on the sidelines.

As for the Steelers fumble, it seems the result of the refs call was made up on the fly. I would think the call would have been either a fumble before the end zone or a TD. If a fumble then the recovery should be based on the evidence of which team has possession of the ball. Clearly some dude exiting the pile with the ball is evidence of possession and if that's the only evidence then that's the evidence used to determine possession. I thought the purpose of beating the crap out of any player on the bottom of the pile was to gain evidence of possession in the event no other evidence existed. It the ball went out of the end zone then that's another issue, but clearly that did not happen.

Grassy Knoll,

Pittsburgh always gets the calls. It all started with the Immaculate Reception.
The Ref made a call upstairs and asked how much police protection could he get so he could be escorted out of the stadium. They told him they really couldn't offer much, so the ref responded "Six for Pittsburgh!"

Besides, the word on the street is that the Ravens got a favorable call in the Bills game yesterday.

Also, Peter I agree with you. Instant Replay in football stinks! It takes too much time out of the game. And the NFL seems to make up rules out of thin air, My example of this would be the "Tuck Rule" from the Raiders/Patriots game some yrs ago. It was bogus then and it's bogus now. It seems to me football is turning more into entertaiment then pure sport!

I will start by proclaiming that i am a Packer fan, but i think we might overestimate the power that the jumbotron has. First off, there is no way that the Packers have power to control when or how fast the network goes to commercial, that has to be completely under the power of the network. Assuming that the jumbotron operator is an employee of the team and not the network, there is no closeup replay to show since the network didnt show one. now the question is, can the operator show a replay of something on the jumbotron that had already been on the network without the networks consent? if yes, then i dont fault the operator for not showing a replay that is a terrible view of the play anyways. if no, then there would be no replay to show until the network has the time to show one. maybe i am thinking to far into it

To all those so much more knowledgeable about NFL officiating than the actual officials and head of officiating for the NFL. While the call TD call on the field was incorrect, replay overturned it and the correct call was made.

Once the TD was signaled, the play is dead and there is no need to recover the ball and you really don't know who recovered it and it CANNOT be determined from the video. The video shows numerous people from both teams diving after the ball but no clear recovery.

Like it or not the zebras reversed the incorrect call of TD on the field and made the right one.

The reason Miami lost this game was they recovered 2 fumbles inside the Steeler 25 and came away with 6 points, then blew the 6-0 lead, kicked 5 FG's, with the lead they gave up a 48yd KO return, then let the Steelers drive to their 2 yd line, then with 2:30 left from their own 30, needing a FG they gained 4 yards turning the ball over all while playing at home.

If I was a Baltimore fan I would be more concerned with why Buffalo put up 34 points and took you to OT at home.

My take, more on baseball, less on Ravenzzz! Just how long does it take to reasign a nobody who has done nothing like Crowley?

What about the reassignment of those who have done even less to help improve the Orioles Kranitz and MacPhailure! Why can't we send both of them to the Yankess for an empty can of tobacco chew and a spittoon

Immaculate reception,
It's clear these refs bet on the games (for the Steelers) and need to make ridiculous and absurd calls to fix them so the Steelers can win. Everyone can see that. It has happened over and over again.
The league needs to do more to make sure that dirty refs placing bets in Vegas stop fixing games with boneheaded calls. Once again the Steelers have a fake record advanced by bad calls, a shortened suspension, and a thug QB who gets the ball handed back after fumbling so they get a pathetic one-point victory over the Dolphins. The league needs to clean up the boneheaded officiating.
You can't have the postseason and field position in playoffs determined by boneheaded calls like in the Miami game just because they have a Stockholm Syndrome crush on the Steelers. It's been obvious from the start of the season that many want the sacred cows of the league - the Steelers and the New Jersey Jets , and their obese felons - in the AFC Championship even if that means cheating with video footage of that for ALL TO SEE with their own eyes.
No one has been fooled by what is going on here.
When will the league office start fining and suspending officials for these absurd calls? Or at the very least have the refs wear Steelers jerseys and caps during the game and announce which refs won the Vegas football pools at the end of the game.

Why not have NFL replays the same as college games ? Take it out of the hands of officials on the field who made the initial call (and may be hesitant to overrule a fellow official) and let officials up in the booth make the final call.

Peter My Man,

You need to hold a class on how to properly blog.

Step 1.) Hit the Post Button Once
Step 2.) Patience Grasshopper. You need patience your post will POST!
You only need to hit the button once.
It's not a difficult concept to grasp as long as you have Patience

Sheesh!

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Pete's reply: In fairness to some of the posters, however, there are some times when everything just moves too slow.

Right, Bill.
But, look, these refs would put the Yankees brat Jeffrey Maier in a Steelers jersey in the end zone to recover the ball with his glove for a Steelers touchdown if they could get away with it. That's how bad it has gotten with refs fixing games for the Steelers. They're turning the NFL into a joke. And it has to stop.
Miami was robbed.
We'd be better off with Judge Judy and Geraldo making the calls.

I remember a certain Ravens / Patriots game in Baltimore a couple of years ago when the Patriots were undefeated. First was Rex Ryan asking for a time out just as the Raven's stop Brady on 4th down and then a Reven's penalty nulifying another 4th down stop. That allowed Brady to throw a game winning touch down pass in the corner of the end zone, where the receiver never had control of the ball. He clearly was still bobbling the ball even after he was well out of bounds. It could'nt be challenged and I don't believe it was even reviewed upstairs. Another Brady rule I suppose as the officials were doing all they could to keep them undefeated.. not with standing Rex Ryan's help to that extent.

The Replay has been a two edged sword. It has allowed the reversal of some of those insanely obvious mistakes we have all seen the refs make on occasion, and it has also effectively redefined what we think of as a catch or a fumble and bogged the game down.
Can you imagine anyone really having doubt about a leaping catch by Lynn Swan or Raymond Berry because a close up, slow motion replay showed that the ball jiggled a tiny bit as he was coming down?
The difference between a fumble being called or not can come down to the tiniest hint of motion in the ball at the correct moment, "did he lose control before he hit the ground!!?"
The result of this is a sometimes maddening stoppage of play, especially in the already stoppage prone last 2 min when the refs in the booth are so terrified of missing something that they call for a review of nearly every significant play. Since the oft quoted "90 seconds" under the hood has never been anything but a fairy tale, some games go on forever and all sense of flow starts to break down.
Darn right, the whole system needs to be reworked. There must be a way to return it to it's original intent of preventing egregious errors from costing a game while ending this relentless nitpicking and microscopic analysis.

This is the question: Are the referees betting on the games?

Don't wait for the NFL to be any more aware than the NBA was, but this Pittsburgh game on Sunday crossed the line, the NFL is starting to look like professional wrestling.

So when will the first NFL owner run for the Senate? Join the Steroid Lady from Connecticut in the Senate, they can talk about how easy it is to fix games in their shows.

The refs might be incompetent... but to say they are betting on games is a bit much. Roger Staubach dislikes the Steelers as much as anyone. In fact he stated he "hated" the Steelers, but I never heard him say. The Refs cost the Cowboys the "Super Bowl" and I don't think you will. The Arizona Cardinals could cry foul too from their Super Bowl, but I am pretty sure they are over it.
Paul Holmgren was the closest to your sentiment, but I think even he fell a bit short of accusing them of taking the Steelers 5 times at 2 and half.
Your statement is ridiculous refs betting!

Problem with the Steelers/Dolphins call was that the initial call was not difficult and should not have been blown. Even live, from every angle, it did not remotely appear that he got in. That ref should be suspended for a game.

One way to fix this scenario is to change the standard of plane-breaking calls on the field. Too often, line judges are guessing at this based on how the pile moved, etc. The rule should be that the ref needs to clearly see the ball cross the plane in possession of an offensive player and otherwise should presume that it did not cross. This means that offenses will have to be a little more creative than the QB sneak or FB dive if they don't want to risk having to go to replay to prove they got in. That should create more excitement and unpredictability on the goal line. It also means that in a critical goal line stand a defense wont be screwed by a premature TD ruling.

There is NO MEDIA bimbo on the Baltimore Sunn sports Staff that has any knowledge or working experience in the arena of Football Rules and regs. All you do is rant the stupidity of the NEWS MEDIA WITHOUT any real EXPERIENCE at executing the refereening position. Get your fat butt on the field and shnow that you have the ability to CORRECTLY CALL the game without getting any negative judgement put againest you. Grow some fortitude!

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Pete's reply: I have no idea what you just said, JJ, but I left it up because it made more sense than any of your other posts.

Come on Peter!, we need your help as Baltimore's Number #1 Maverick.

The Raven's don't need your help!

It's those other "Birds" next door aka "The Orioles"

My crystal ball forsees "Diabolical" meddling again from Peter A and Andy Mac! I also forsee Buck S running down Eutaw Street screaming "I can't take it anymore". Then jump into his car and hop onto i-95 never to be seen again in Baltimore if the pettiness doesn't stop!
Come on Peter come back to Baseball!

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Pete's reply: I'm here, but I've been trying to rest up for the offseason trade/free agent period.

My take, time for some baseball talk!