12-16-10 TNF Observations

[FredFan7]

Blakeman's crew on the call. What do/did you think of the crew?

[Deleted]

Nice overturn on the SF TD.

Why did Garth DeFelice line up in his new position when it was 4th and Goal at the SD 1? I thought the U was supposed to line up in the old position in the red zone?

[Deleted]

Great call by Blakeman to overturn the 49er touchdown at the start of the second. It was easy to debate whether or not a touchdown was scored at the pylon, which could have easily overshadowed the fact that the knee was down before that point. It certainly fooled the commentators of NFL Network...

[hank]

SF #19 returned a punt late in the 1st quarter was knocked out of bounds by the punter. The punter fell to the ground and 19 tossed the ball and hit the punter in the butt. This taunt went unnoticed.

[hank]

and nice ejection by #53

[Deleted]

And Justin Smith of the 49ers just pushed Garth DeFelice and Blakeman ejects another player.

[zcr57]

DeFelice didn't look to happy with Justin Smith. Other officials might have looked the other way, but I'm not surprised that he gave him the thumb.

Smith stayed on the sideline for a while, and the announcers claimed that they called Carl Johnson's office and asked him why Smith was still on the sideline. Shortly thereafter, Smith got escorted to the locker room.

[Deleted]

I guess the NFL was having their holiday pot luck in NY and no one noticed Smith still on the bench.

So far the crew has looked pretty good.

[melkaman8200]

Dec 16, 2010 21:56:38 GMT -5 zcr57 said:

DeFelice didn't look to happy with Justin Smith.

I saw a replay on youtube and you're not kidding. DeFelice was hot. I saw that flash in his eyes. You might even wonder if DeFelice pushed back a little bit. Did you notice the Line Judge stepped in between them and got in front of Smith?

[FredFan7]

Video of ejection: bit.ly/hgNnA1

Matt Millen caught it immediately and knew what was going to happen. Great explanation by Blakeman.

While not as flagrant as they HS kid slamming that basketball referee, it is aggression against an official that must not be allowed to happen.

[russ]

IMO, this is a complete overreaction by Garth DeFelice. I think Smith should have probably been ejected, but I think Defelice acted very unproffessionally here.

[zcr57]

Dec 16, 2010 23:06:19 GMT -5 russ said:

IMO, this is a complete overreaction by Garth DeFelice. I think Smith should have probably been ejected, but I think Defelice acted very unproffessionally here.

There's no gray area when a player touches an official unnecessarily. As I said, other officials might have looked the other way, but with DeFelice's "no nonsense" mentality, I'm not surprised that he was tossed.

[melkaman8200]

The NFL rule book calls for automatic disqualificaiton for "striking or purposely shoving a game official." If there's a penalty for it, then he must be ejected. There's no wiggle room.

I agree that maybe DeFelice could have let that one go. For some reason, that really pushed his buttons. He was mad and you could see it. Good thing the LJ got in there and got Smith out of there. DeFelice needed to calm down a bit.

I have to say that this play highlights a complaint I have about Cheffers. I've never been a fan of his mic work. In this instance, he called the penalty a "Personal Foul" when it is actually "Unsportsmanlike Conduct."
Yes I know that's a matter of semantics, but I always get the vibe that Cheffers is unsure of himself on the mic, and this is just an example. He's a great official, and I'm not criticizing that aspect of him, just his persona I guess.

[russ]

Dec 16, 2010 23:16:58 GMT -5 melkaman8200 said:

The NFL rule book calls for automatic disqualificaiton for "striking or purposely shoving a game official." If there's a penalty for it, then he must be ejected. There's no wiggle room.

I agree that maybe DeFelice could have let that one go. For some reason, that really pushed his buttons. He was mad and you could see it. Good thing the LJ got in there and got Smith out of there. DeFelice needed to calm down a bit.

I have to say that this play highlights a complaint I have about Cheffers. I've never been a fan of his mic work. In this instance, he called the penalty a "Personal Foul" when it is actually "Unsportsmanlike Conduct."
Yes I know that's a matter of semantics, but I always get the vibe that Cheffers is unsure of himself on the mic, and this is just an example. He's a great official, and I'm not criticizing that aspect of him, just his persona I guess.

This was actually Clete Blakeman on the announcement though. i looked at the video again and DeFelice did give Smith a retaliation shove. I love Garth DeFelice and think he is a great Umpire but he should be fined a game check for this action. If players can't do that to Officials Officials shouldn't be able to do that to players either. I think DeFeice just lost his cool in this instance, then again so do most players when they get ejected and they have to pay the price. DeFelice should also.

[Deleted]

Dec 16, 2010 23:16:58 GMT -5 melkaman8200 said:

I have to say that this play highlights a complaint I have about Cheffers.

cheffers...you mean blakeman?

I only agree with the call because you have to eject the guy who touches the ref, however, defelice over reacted to being brushed off, and then blakeman messed up. on this play, i'd give the R and the U low grades, while the other 5 get high marks for doing their parts in splitting anything up post facto...defelice just lost a lot of respect. no need to overreact to something tiny like that and jaw back at SF94.