Quote:Dean Blandino is clearly being defensive in this video. The fact that he refuses to admit Clete Blakeman was wrong speaks loudly about the NFL's ignorance of officiating errors everyone knows about.

 

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000...all-monday

 

What I don't understand is Blandino said contact is not allowed after the ball is touched by Carolina's safety. Isn't the ball being touched irrelevant when making that call? Yet he says because officials believed the "restriction" (not contact) and interception occured at the same time, it was OK. It is crystal clear Rob Gronkowski was hugged, not just restricted, before the ball was intercepted. This is a classic example of the NFL saying, "No matter what everyone else thinks, our officials do a great job."

 

 

Maybe you don't understand a few things; Pass Interference is a non-reviewable, judgement call type of penalty. In other words -- and I understand that this may be difficult for you to grasp -- there is nothing hard and fast that clearly defines Pass Interference. Contact with a Receiver is allowed, it is up to the Official to determine whether or not the contact prevented a catch. Blandino supports this when he states:

 

<p style="margin-left:40px;">"...'The issue isn't the contact [between Kuechly and Gronkowski], the issue is the restriction and does it occur prior to the ball being touched,'
..."

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Blandino expounds on how the rule is based on the Official's judgement when he says:

 

<p style="margin-left:40px;">"...'At full speed the officials made a tight judgment call and they determined that the restriction occurred just as the ball was being touched. Again, at full speed you can see why they made that call
.'..."

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If you give someone, in this case the Officials, the ability to use their judgement in a dynamic situation, then you must allow them complete autonomy when that judgement comes into play. The more that I review the rules and watch the event, the more convinced I am that the crew, not just Blakeman, made the correct call. I may be wrong, I may be right, but the only thing to do about this now is to move on to the next game and get the beer on ice so we can all have a good time.

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