Tonight I watched as NFL’s Wild Card Weekend came to a close. The final matchup of the weekend was the Green Bay Packers at the Arizona Cardinals aka Aaron Rodgers vs Kurt Warner.
As with the previous three games of the weekend, it started out as a blow out, but Green Bay slowly made a comeback which eventually led to a 45-45 overtime playoff game.
In the first drive of OT, it looked like Green Bay were about to go three and out (after winning the coin toss), Aaron Rodgers was attacked and lost the football. One of the Cardinal’s defenders scooped up the fumble and ran the ball in for a touchdown. Game over?
It sure did seem like the game was over and in the eyes of the Fox broadcasters and the NFL it was. About 20 seconds after the live play and game ended, FOX replayed the final play in slow motion. Watch closely:
Mere seconds after the ball is knocked out of Aaron Rodgers’ hands, the Cardinal’s defender’s hand is on Aaron Rodgers’ facemask – and this time we’re watching it in slow motion. The NFL refs totally missed this play and I believe the Green Bay Packer’s were totally robbed.
About 20 minutes after tweeting about this, I visited NFL.com and was surprised to find this image RIGHT ON THEIR HOMEPAGE:
NFL.com Features the Aaron Rodgers Facemask Play!
Now I may not be the most technical of football fans, but I highly believe that if the refs called this facemask penalty on the Cardinals, the touchdown wouldn’t have stood. I may be wrong though. NFL experts, please feel free to comment and let me know what would’ve or could’ve happen if the penalty was called.
I can’t help but lose some respect for the NFL and their referees once again for missing a huge penalty, in a huge game, in the final moments in a call that would’ve most definitely changed the outcome. As a football fan, this pisses me off.
One last thing I should mention – I’m not a Packers fan.
-foochuck
Sorry bout that…Here’s the link to ESPN’s article:
The real issue here is that:
1. Adams should have been called for a personal foul hitting Rogers in the head. The defensive players cannot hit the QB in the head. Period.
2. The foul occurred before Arizona recovered the ball so Green Bay would have retained possession…
From ESPN:
“Former NFL referee Bill Carollo, who retired after 20 years as an NFL official in 2008 and now works as the Big Ten Conference’s director of officiating (and with nothing to gain or cover up here offers a more impartial opinion than my own) told ESPNMadison’s Steve “The Homer” True Monday that referee Scott Green and his crew missed what should have been a 15-yard facemask or unnecessary roughness penalty on Adams, who caught Rodgers’ facemask with his right hand and pulled on it after forcing Rodgers’ fumble.
“Certainly (Adams) made contact, dislodged the ball, and continued and hit the quarterback. He did get him in the facemask; you can’t hit him above the shoulders with anything,” said Carollo, who watched the game on television. “In this case, probably a personal foul could’ve been called on that play. (Green) didn’t necessarily rule that it was a pass, so it couldn’t be roughing the passer, but he could have an unnecessary roughness on that play for grabbing the facemask.”
“If a penalty was called on that play, you’d have to throw the flag, and then determine, when did the foul occur? That makes a big difference in this case because it’s really close,” Carollo explained. “In this case, though, when the facemask was grabbed, the ball was still loose, which means it was still in the Packers’ possession. So they have NOT lost possession. The foul happened BEFORE the ball was recovered in the air. If the foul happened after the fact, and the Arizona player had the ball, then Arizona would keep the ball with the penalty assessed from that spot. “In this case, I believe the penalty occurred before Arizona recovered the ball in the air, so it would be a previous-spot foul: 15 yards from the previous spot.” That means the Packers should have had the ball first-and-10 at their own 39-yard line.
Here’s the link: Here’s the link to ESPN’s article:
I was lucky enough to be at this one. Unfortunately after checking the NFL rule book, a player can touch anothers facemask now. It used to be called incidental facemask (5yds). A player now must either turn, pull, or twist to be called. Even then it’s left to judgement by the official. The non call was the correct call.
Yes, I am a female and that is why I questioned myself. My husband was in the kitchen when I saw what looked like head to head on Rodgers on the second to last play, and then again the face mask on Rodgers when they did the replay. My husband missed the whole thing. Then he called me to tell me about this article. It was very blatant. You know they saw it upstairs and CHOSE to ignore it. That is why it is so bad. AND the fact that you know if I SAW it then Troy saw it, and as someone said, he kind of hesitated, and kept on talking. Why didn’t anyone talk about it? If it just happend and the refs missed it? Then ok, say so. The fact that it is there, on tape and none of the announcers/commentators even mentioned it, then that says something was wrong.
I was just watching that last drive again. On the last play, which I watched over and over in slow motion and in real time, it appears that Adams goes in to sack Rodgers and reaches up and grabs his face mask. Adams does not even realize that the ball has come loose and pulls Rodgers to the ground with his hand still on his face mask. Adams is clearly focused on Rodgers and not the ball. You can see Rodgers’ head tilt forward becaues of being pulled by the face mask. The play looked illegal to me.
I remember being a little kid and asking my old man how they spot the ball at the bottom of a scrum. He told me that they do their best and the law of averages eventually evens it out (i.e. the yards you unfairly lost will be made up for with the yards you unfairly gain). That said, I am not comfortable with the outcome of the game, especially a game this epic coming down to a pair of missed calls. I think both teams’ offenses played great and there is much to be proud of; Warner was nearly flawless, Rogers, in his first playoff ever, showed incredible poise coming back from a deficit in a way that even the great Tom Brady couldn’t the day before. So to have it end like this…
Again, Rogers showed class by blaming his missing Jennings (and not the face mask), and Warner for praising the Packers. The hostility comes, I think from Packers fans feeling like they’ve been cheated and Cards fans from knowing they got away with one. But Hell, that’s the game.
I agree if you watch closly it was hit the air by rogers foot and then picked from the air before hitting the ground and thats clear if they called the facemask then what would of happened I guess we will never know
OK it was NOT a fumble. It may have been an Int but it wasn’t a fumble. Rogers hand was moving forward when he was hit. So either it was incomplete or the tuck rule came into play. So the ball must have been caught in the air before hitting the ground. The play should have been reviewed to see if it was an Int or incomplete pass, for there is no way it was a fumble.
Facemask didn’t cause the fumble. Happened fast. It sucked, but don’t left the ref decide the game.
I love Jack’s comment, BobB’s comment. Apparently you can grab someone’s facemask and whip them to the ground as long as you are able to jar the ball loose–game on! Can any player grab a facemask and bring someone to the ground? No–its a penalty, the fumble is what should not have mattered. That said, hey–we lost I’m over it.
Penalties arent reviewable. The facemask had no effect on Rogers turning over the ball.
One thing that I took from the facemask grab was that it prevented Aaron Rodgers from recovering the fumble himself. Just sayin’.
Has anyone asked the obvious question? Did any of the Packer personnel have any complaints at the time or even after the play? From what I saw, the ball was completely out of his hands before the face mask was even made contact with. Calls are missed, it sucks, but it happens. Anyone remember the SUNS getting completely cheated against the SPURS a couple years ago? Bruce Bowen was/is a disgrace. It happens in all team sports. Nobody mentions the fact that Warner had a fantastic game. Not gonna give him any credit? Or maybe Doucet credit to come in and play great for an injured Boldin? I saw quite a few holding calls on the Packers O line trying to protect Rodgers. Just saying, let’s take ALL things into consideration. I enjoyed that game. I love high scoring games, and THAT is what I’ll remember from this game.
Jaws
If you listen to the last play, one of the announcers says, “And Rodgers with a HAND TO THE FACE gets the ball knocked out…..” The announcer then fails to elaborate on his statement.
Maybe it was a makeup call for the earlier helmet to helmet on Kurt that left him with a bloody lip.
Of course if you don’t let the other team score 51 points you don’t have to worry about it.
RRR RRR post, did you read above, there can’t be a change of possession with a penalty on the recovering team. So many people do not know and understand the rules. Also, other sites and some here have talked about incidental face masks. There are none, they took out this rule so it is not up to the opinion of the officials, just like the force out. A face mask, of any type is a face mask. And for the no call on the p i on fitz against woodson, a d player has the right to he area. Exactly why Moss got called in the earlier game when he did the same things. Officials need to be more consistant from crew to crew and the nfl needs to do something about this.
Wow, what a disgrace for overlooking consecutive penalties on the Cardinals. Now I read that the NFL is fining the Cards player for the helmet-to helmet hit (the roughing the passer no-call) on Rodgers. I think the Packers would have preferred the fifteen yards and a first down, just a hunch on that one. I do agree that this officiating crew should not work any of the remaining playoff games.
u cant touch a facemask at any time of the game
C’mon guys.. this was a fumble/recovery by the Cardinals. Say the refs call the facemask penalty just after they signaled a fumble.. now what.. who gets the ball? Well, the team that recovered the fumble keeps the ball regardless of the penalty.
So, Arizona recovered but gets the TD called back. 15 yard penalty happens and AZ is forced to put Rackers in to kick a field goal. There is a chance he misses again and then GB gets to try to march down the field and win it.
I don’t see Rackers missing two in a row.. but I guess we’ll never get to find out.
All those saying the NFL gave the game to the Cards. Give me a break! The Card’s offense steamrolled the Pack’s top-rated defense most of the game with Warner who threw more TD passes than he did incomplete passes. Let’s give Warner some and the Cards players some credit for even giving themselves a chance to be in the game during those final seconds!
If you read the NFL rulebook, there cannot be a change of possession on a play where the team with the takeaway has been penalized while the change of possession has taken place. The facemask occurred just after the loss of possession but before the change in possession. Rodgers kicked the ball up after the facemask and the ball was then recovered.
(they call this the \clean hands\ stipulation, meaning you can’t get the ball on a change of possession unless you haven’t committed a penalty. If you had committed a penalty, you didn’t get the ball with clean hands).
I do believe that game was rigged. But the packers defense did not show up. Just a frustrating game all together. and me being a woman i do not appareciate NFLfans comment. Just because you are a guy doesnt mean you automatically know more about football. I mean anyone could tell that game was rigged and horribley called
NFLfan…no sexist comments please. I know plenty of women who know football just as well or even better than most men.
Molly, you’re a women and there are men talking football here. Go bake a pie or something…
On top of the missed facemasking call, they also didn’t call the helmet to helmet hit on a play or two prior to the last one. Kurt Warner got a call by the same official for a ticky tack call that should have been a holding call on the Cards. It’s pretty obvious, they protect the old men QB’s in the league like Brady, Favre and Manning, but Rodgers hasn’t attained “Superstar” status yet. The other guys GET those calls just by complaining. This officiating crew should not work again in the playoffs, they should be ashamed, they affected the outcome.
Fair enough, but the refs missed a really nasty facemask grab against Larry Fitzgerald earlier in the game too that lead to his fumble in the next play. Can’t catch them all.
I thought the game was thrown when they missed offensive pass interference on Fitzgerald on the same play that the ref called roughing the passer against Green Bay. Also, the second-to-last play of the game was blatant roughing the passer with a head to head blow to Aaron Rodgers. It is not just the 2.5 point spread that matters, but the NFL has a larger audience for the next game with the Cardinals and Kurt Warner.
Cards fan, You would have to be blind to say the fouls evened out in this game. Not only the face mask (committed before AZ control so GB ball) and the helmet-to-helmet the play before (he will get fined, lot that helps GB), but on 2 TDs Fitz runs over Wood 15 yards downfield (one the play after Wood is rightly called for intf.), the 2nd one Jenkins is also tackled into Warner, but Jenkins gets called. Twenty points of calls. Which terrible calls did they miss on GB?
the officials are never fined , or held responsible, they are mafia like, they probably place side bets on the game to supplement there incomes ..Dallas knows look at there records ..
good news is the refs also missed the PI on fitzgerald knocking wood over in endzone and called facemask on jenkins while he was being held, so the refs at least called faskmask for warner..end result touchdown cards, X 2…..game way over
PS – If you watch the video I posted when Troy Aikman is talking about the defense during the replay, he stumbles a bit – as if he noticed the face mask penalty…but still never mentions a word about it.
“Cardsfan” – FYI I’m not a Packers fan, just an NFL fan who didn’t appreciate missing such an important penalty call.
I did think it was really weird that NO ONE on Fox, Post Game Show & NFL Network even mentioned it once. Conspiracy?
WWWAAAHHH WWWWHHAAAAHHH BBOOOO HOOOOOO BABIES!!! Screw the Cheeseheads!!
Looks like a facemask to me too. However, that is the way it goes in all sports. Ref’s miss calls on every game that “could” affect the outcome. There aren’t enough referree eyes to watch all the players on the field, which results in missed calls. NFL players and penalties are like speeding drivers, everyone does it, but only a few get caught. I’m 100% sure that anyone who watches the game tapes will notice several other missed penalties(favoring either team). The reality of this is that “yes it happens all the time!!” and one team will benefit because of it. Maybe next year it will work out in the Packers favor. However this time it was the Cards who got the break!! Go Cards!!
If a penalty occurs on the defense BEFORE they gain possession of the football, the offense keeps the ball. Although had Rodgers hit Jennings on the opening play of overtime, this wouldn’t have happened.
Don’t it make you wonder that neither Buck or Aikman said anything about the facemask. Neither did Curt, Terry, Howie, Michael or Jimmy did, either. I was for sure expecting nfl.com’s total access crew (Eisen, Irvin, Sanders and Mariucci) to say something about the facemask. They didn’t say a word, either. It does make you wonder. Were they all told to shut up about it? Was the game fixed? I wonder…
Yes, the facemask did happen. Rodgers fumbled, and then Adams grabbed his face mask. The ball should have been Cardinals ball, but the TD shouldn’t have counted. It’s one of those glaring calls that have been missed by NFL officials. Remember Phil Luckett’s botched calls in very big games? Anyway, it is what it is. Sorry to see the Packers go out LIKE THAT. I was rooting for the Cardinals to win, but i wanted them to win fair and square, not by a botched penalty call.
The facemask grab occurred after Rodgers fumbled the ball, but before Cards took possession. I am not sure if the penalty would be applied to Cards, if it is ruled he did not have posession.
You are reading the minds of all the Packer Fans I know.
Great game with an unbelievable ending,, How do they miss
such blatent errors?
What the REF threw was a “beanie”. It’s used to mark where a fumble has occurred.
Yes, you’re right he missed the facemask, but that’s because he was watching the loose ball.
If the REF’s had seen it, the end result wouldn’t have probably mattered. The facemask occurred after the fumble, therefore it’s Arizona’s ball with a 15yd penalty from the spot of the foul.
Still way in field-goal range. Game Over. AZ wins…
Green Bay fans can always take solace in the fact New Orleans is gonna murder the Cardinals. Somebody call animal control…:)
I cannot agree more with you on this call and cannot believe no one is talking about it. I agree with losing a lot of respect for the nfl after watching this play as well as some other calls against the packers during the game; most notably the roughing the passer on the same drive and the Fitzgerald bulldozing Woodson on a Cardnals touchdown. Shame on the NFL officials in this game.
I agree. Watch the ref grab something and try to throw it. Did he screw up and not have the flag yet was the first to signal touchdown?
HI foochuck,
I completely agree. the facemask would have overturned the touchdown. If the coaches had the opportunity to challenge, I am sure that the GB coach would have. However, since the review had to come from the booth, there was nothing GB coulddo.
I waited for 5 or 10 minutes for the announcers to say something about it, even in passing, but they did not. So I guess we were of the few who thought this was of any importance.
they missed it. the packers would’ve had a first down.
It actually was “roughing the quarterback”…..15 yards and an automatic first down…..bad bad ending to a terrific game….
It’s gotta make you wonder ….
It was clearly a facemask and the previous snap they should have called roughing the passer for helmet on helmet hit on Rogers.
but what makes you think that they missed the call??? how about they decided to hand the game over to the Cardinals? the betting line for this game was GB -2.5 and after last weeks result the money was on the packers. just like all the money was on the Patriots -3.5 at home against Baltimore. Its all BS!!!!