R 34 Clete Blakeman U 128 Ramon George DJ 8 Dana McKenzie LJ 32 Jeff Bergman FJ 50 Aaron Santi SJ 104 Dale Shaw BJ 46 Perry Paganelli ALT 19 Clay Martin ALT 64 Dan Ferrell ALT 47 Tim Podraza ALT 95 James Coleman
Post by exhockeyref on Jan 12, 2020 19:58:03 GMT -5
Would love to hear from the experts about "grasping the helmet opening." Had one in this game around 2:30 of the 2nd quarter and one reared its ugly head in the Ravens game (on Lamar Jackson after the 1st interception). What constitutes the "helmet opening?" Both of these fouls looked like they weren't really around the helmet, but they got called 2-for-2.
Seahawks defensive end Jadeveon Clowney swoops in and yanks down Packers tight end Jace Sternberger, and down judge Dana McKenzie, trailing the play, tosses a flag. This was deliberated over whether this was a face mask penalty, and the foul was announced as "grasping the helmet opening." The helmet opening is in the same category of the face mask in terms of whether a player pulls or twists his opponent. The determination was that Clowney at least grabbed the opening as Sternberger's head turned.
But replays show otherwise, and Clowney had the neck and the side of the helmet — all legal grasp points for a tackle as long as there is no other roughness element paired with it. Tough call in real time in this case, because the twist of the helmet seems to have all of the signatures of a the face mask/helmet opening call.
Hearing a different sounding whistle tonight? It is a metal, pea whistle and line judge Jeff Bergman is using it.
Only three NFL officials, Bergman, Tony Steratore and Rich Hall use metal whistles.
A few NFL officials (Tony Corrente and Carl Johnson to name two) use plastic pea whistles.
The rest use the Fox 40 whistle that give that shrill, screaming sound. The FOX 40 was initially invented for basketball officials to be heard in a loud arena. But the whistle is so popular, most pro sports officials (except hockey) use the Fox 40.
Defenders cannot hold eligible receivers, even behind the line of scrimmage, so defensive holding is correct.
Aaron Rodgers was a runner when he slid down. A Seahawks arm clipped Rodgers in the head. The hit was not malicious. There was no grasping of the helmet. This was a proper no-call.
Blakeman: 3.7 - Maybe a hold non-call he wants back but did a good job controlling the gmae George: 3.7 - See Blakeman McKenzie: 3.7 - Called grasping the helmet opening that looked bad but on review wasn't technically there Bergman: 3.7 - Called a great game, but looked possibly off on the final spot. Bigger criticism to FOX for not giving us a better angle. Santi: 3.8 - Great calls in the secondary Shaw: 3.9 - see Santi plus extra hustle P. Paganelli: 3.8 - see Santi
Crew: 3.76
a few seconds ago A few close calls highlight this game For much of the third quarter this game was plodding along to a ho-hum finish, but Seattle came on strong to make a game of it.
It looked like the Packers got away with a hold early, but an iffy grasping the helmet opening foul on the Packers the next series evened things out.
I loved the hustle shown by side judge Dale Shaw in this game, moving quickle to get in between scrums and be in proper position. He hustled, but didn't hurry.
Blakeman had command of this game the whole way through. He was helped by the strong down judge/line judge combination of Tim Podraza and Jeff Bergman. The deep judges Santi, Hall and Paganelli made good calls and all pass interference flags were there.
Al Riveron had two rough plays to review. I wish FOX had given us a better angle and in a more timely fashion on that final "first or fourth down" sport that gave the Packers a game-clinching first down. You can read about those plays below.
There were three questionable calls, but no obvious errors to mar this game.
I didn’t like Bergman being so quick to rule down by contact early in the game. Also, I thought the spots on the Jones TD and final first down were generous. I don’t think that the ball ever crossed the plane or that a first down was achieved. Everybody was focused on the receiver’s knees, but his helmet appeared to hit on the unofficial line to gain. Unless the ball was against his helmet that means it was behind that line.
