Week 12 ‘Official Review’: Turkey Day replay, 4th & 29 measure, quick whistle

video 1 (streaming) | video 2 (streaming) | video 3 (222 MB download)

Busy, busy Week 12 in officiating, so let’s look at what the officiating department is discussing for “Official Review.” NFL director of officiating and head of instant replay Dean Blandino has the calls:

• On Thanksgiving Day, the obvious missed call of Texans running back Justin Forsett was reviewable in replay. As we discussed in length, this became unreviewable because of Lions coach Jom Schwartz initiating a replay challenge prior to the replay official determining that. (I would have liked some explanation as to why this was missed. I noticed the line judge was obstructed from seeing Forsett down, but what did the head linesman see?) Blandino discussed a rule change could come for the postseason, and that the officiating office is working with the Competition Committee. The Competition Committee makes the recommendation, but ultimately either the commissioner or a majority vote of the owners could pass the recommendation in midseason.
• On the Ravens’ conversion of a 4th-and-29 against the Chargers, running back Ray Rice was spotted about a yard ahead of the actual spot. This was looked at in replay, and referee Gene Steratore said the ball needed to be respotted, and that a measurement was necessary. Because the chains had already advanced to the new first-down spot, they had to be reset to their original location before measuring.
• The inadvertent whistle (our video) from the Raiders-Bengals game was also discussed.

Periodically, the officiating department releases a tutorial video to the media to assist in their coverage. While not under the “Official Review” banner, we are including it here because of the similar calls discussed. Blandino narrates the media tape, which can be downloaded at the link above.

• Blindside blocks occurring when a player is heading towards his end zone and creates helmet-to-helmet contact are illegal. This is considered a defenseless player (as we discussed before), as he cannot react to protect himself from the hit in time. Several examples are shown.
• The inadvertent whistle was discussed, and Blandino validated our assessment that it could have been reviewed up to the whistle for an incomplete pass.
• This should have been discussed in “Official Review,” but Blandino explains the use of the clip on the chains that we wrote about earlier this week.