Refs spotting the ball

[Thrivefourfive]

We the tv audience should be in on those “upstairs decisions”. All challenge discussion should be had out in the open. Sounds crazy, I know, but what do they have to hide?? When you think about it, it’s crazy that key decisions on what we can clearly see on the field on tv are made in secret. There’s zero reason for it. 
 

It’s not only spotting. It’s forward progress on the sidelines too. On the final drive, Allen got shoved out of bounds, and if anything I guess he went out laterally. I honestly thought his forward momentum was reversed by the defender, in play, and I was worried to see the clock still running. But he stuck out the ball too, so what’s the deal with that?! Of course Colinsworth comments that it’s a good thing Josh is BEAST, inferring the judge’s call was correct. On another play, down the near sideline inside the ten yard line I believe, it looked like Shakir got out of bounds on his own accord yet the clock ran. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

8 minutes ago, Thrivefourfive said:

We the tv audience should be in on those “upstairs decisions”. All challenge discussion should be had out in the open. Sounds crazy, I know, but what do they have to hide?? When you think about it, it’s crazy that key decisions on what we can clearly see on the field on tv are made in secret. There’s zero reason for it. 
 

It’s not only spotting. It’s forward progress on the sidelines too. On the final drive, Allen got shoved out of bounds, and if anything I guess he went out laterally. I honestly thought his forward momentum was reversed by the defender, in play, and I was worried to see the clock still running. But he stuck out the ball too, so what’s the deal with that?! Of course Colinsworth comments that it’s a good thing Josh is BEAST, inferring the judge’s call was correct. On another play, down the near sideline inside the ten yard line I believe, it looked like Shakir got out of bounds on his own accord yet the clock ran. 

My favorite collinsworth lowlight was when flowers allegedly caught that third down pass before halftime and the replay came up and he was like ‘did he get it yes he did’ real quick and they moved on when you can see him kinda trap it with the ground and the ball move a little lol don’t think they even reviewed that one. 
 

also the whole discussion about Coleman stepping out of bounds without really talkin about that he was obviously shoved out on the 2 pointer 😂

Edited September 8 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Thrivefourfive]

3 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

My favorite collinsworth lowlight was when flowers allegedly caught that third down pass before halftime and the replay came up and he was like ‘did he get it yes he did’ real quick and they moved on when you can see him kinda trap it with the ground and the ball move a little lol don’t think they even reviewed that one. 
 

also the whole discussion about Coleman stepping out of bounds without really talkin about that he was obviously shoved out on the 2 pointer 😂

Colinsworth can be replaced. What are these jobs.. lifetime appointments.. talks too much and gets too amazed about what we’re all expecting. 
 

That Flowers play.. so bad that the refs should’ve seen it. It wasn’t an unexpected tipped at the line of scrimmage flying linebackers arms extended did he or didn’t he.. ref has to be on that. The tv just goes about talking to themselves instead of having opinions about what they’re seeing, like we do when we’re seeing 

[klumzyfule66]

47 minutes ago, MJS said:

I guess I don't understand the slide rule, because I thought they spotted it when you begin the slide, which was clearly before the 1st down marker and where they spotted it, but then the rules expert guy said it should be spotted when his knee touched the ground. So, I thought the refs got it right, but they said he got it wrong.

So did I. I went into the rule book to find it, and was mistaken. Although so was Terry McAuley (or whoever the rules analyst was last night). It doesn't have to be a knee that touches, which I think is what he said. I couldn't quickly find a video of the slide to check again, but I still think he might have been short?

 

Rule 7, Section 2, Article 1.d.2

sliding or diving. When a runner slides or dives feet or head first or simulates sliding or diving, the ball is dead the instant he touches the ground with anything other than his hands or his feet, or begins to simulate touching the ground

 

 

[MJS]

17 minutes ago, klumzyfule66 said:

So did I. I went into the rule book to find it, and was mistaken. Although so was Terry McAuley (or whoever the rules analyst was last night). It doesn't have to be a knee that touches, which I think is what he said. I couldn't quickly find a video of the slide to check again, but I still think he might have been short?

 

Rule 7, Section 2, Article 1.d.2

sliding or diving. When a runner slides or dives feet or head first or simulates sliding or diving, the ball is dead the instant he touches the ground with anything other than his hands or his feet, or begins to simulate touching the ground

 

 

"... or begins to simulate touching the ground."

 

What the heck does that mean, haha?

 

I swear they have called QBs down as soon as they begin the slide, before any body part touches the ground. But that is usually a feet first slide, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Lots of QBs are short of the line to gain because they start their slide before the marker, just like what happened with Josh Allen.

[Jerry Jabber]

So much for the chip in the ball and the supposedly new technology to spot the ball. 😤🤬

[klumzyfule66]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

"... or begins to simulate touching the ground."

 

What the heck does that mean, haha?

 

I swear they have called QBs down as soon as they begin the slide, before any body part touches the ground. But that is usually a feet first slide, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Lots of QBs are short of the line to gain because they start their slide before the marker, just like what happened with Josh Allen.

 

My guess is this is to cover a 'fake slide' but I don't know that I like that .... it inputs (more) subjectivity, as a ref could at any time can say someone is simulating a slide. If you want to delay a slide or fake slide, you can get popped. So I like that the rule gives you the progress where a non-foot falls, and not when you "start" your slide. It helps remove the benefit of doing a fake slide but continuing on, as it's not something that refs are (currently) trying to police for.

[MJS]

32 minutes ago, klumzyfule66 said:

My guess is this is to cover a 'fake slide' but I don't know that I like that .... it inputs (more) subjectivity, as a ref could at any time can say someone is simulating a slide. If you want to delay a slide or fake slide, you can get popped. So I like that the rule gives you the progress where a non-foot falls, and not when you "start" your slide. It helps remove the benefit of doing a fake slide but continuing on, as it's not something that refs are (currently) trying to police for.

I just swear that I have heard on broadcasts many times that the rule is that you are down where you start the slide. So, maybe they weren't expressing the rule correctly, or maybe it changed, but I have heard that many times watching football games.

[JGMcD2]

6 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

The OP is right, spotting has been horrendous.  Not sure if this is league wide or not, but the one at the end of the game, even the ref in the booth was saying (in kind words) that the refs really messed up.  

 

Also, MCD needed to challange that spot.  Almost cost us the game.  He was standing right there.  

 

 

If he challenges the spot, and the refs let the call stand, you’d be sitting here screaming that he wasted a timeout that we could have used to keep time on the clock. 

[MPT]

9 hours ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Is it me or were they continuously shorting the Bills on the spot of the ball ?  The biggest one that comes to mind is when Josh slid directly on top of the marker and the referees decide to spot the ball a full yard behind it.
 

There was another really bad one in the Red Zone as well. I feel like this is becoming a trend since Kansas City last year. Having headquarters in New York quickly change the spot seems like an easy fix.

 

In a game of INCHES, I feel like the NFL should put more emphasis on this problem. 

 

Every single game. Especially against good opponents.

 

You could make an entire football field out of the length of short spots we get throughout a season. Or in one game against KC.

2 hours ago, MJS said:

"... or begins to simulate touching the ground."

 

What the heck does that mean, haha?

 

I swear they have called QBs down as soon as they begin the slide, before any body part touches the ground. But that is usually a feet first slide, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Lots of QBs are short of the line to gain because they start their slide before the marker, just like what happened with Josh Allen.

 

What the rule really says is that if a player fakes a slide, the ball is spotted where he began to fake it. 

 

They also apply that to real slides, which is not what the rule says at all but they just make ***** up as it suits them.

[Jukester]

10 hours ago, JP51 said:

and the thing is if you watch the replay it wasnt inches, it was almost a full two yards... I blame our coaches for not challenging...  that was egregious.

Don’t we have a specialist spotter in the booth for this. That dude dropped the ball

[JP51]

2 hours ago, Jukester said:

Don’t we have a specialist spotter in the booth for this. That dude dropped the ball

Someone did i mean a foot i get this was 2 full yards how do you miss that on the field AND in the booth

[Old Coot]

Not to quibble but the rule quoted above just says when the ball is dead not where the ball is spotted... Or are the two the same?

 

The commentators seems to think it was where the ball was when Josh started his slide.

[Big Blitz]

12 hours ago, Success said:

Just watching the replay - they also spotted Shakir short on that flip pass from Allen. He clearly got the 1st down.

 

 

Watch where the side judge comes to make this spot - he looks INTENT on marking it short from an angle he couldn’t possibly know where he landed.  
 

 

 

[LABILLBACKER]

Spotting the ball in the NFL is about as accurate as an MLB strike zone.  We always seem to get screwed by a yard or so.  Someday technology will fix that like the soon to be digital strike zone.  Someone might want to re-train these refs. It's where the ball is when the knee hits. They're marking it at the knee spot.

Edited September 9 by LABILLBACKER

[Rew]

Initially I was critical of not challenging this, but after reviewing I think it was called correctly.  They've been calling it this way for a decade in the interest of player safety. There was a major point of emphasis on this a few years sgo.  All the guidance to officials and teams has been that the ball is dead and the QB is protected as soon as he begins a sliding action.  He doesn't have to be air borne, he doesn't have to have a knee touch the ground, he doesn't have to do anything other than look like he is sliding.

 

While I think this could have been a first down, there is no way it would have been overturned.  You could also tell by Josh's reaction that he knew he goofed.  Silver lining is that Josh is protected from a lot of damage when he's at the end of runs.  

[Bermuda Triangle]

The spot on the 3rd down  Oliver sack, on the Ravens first possession was horrible.  Oliver hit Jackson at the 35, maybe 35.5, and the ball was spotted at the 34

[DaggersEOD]

Was just looking into if Collinsworth owns part of SNF (as a joke) but turns out he owns PFF. 
 

So all those PFF rankings before the game are essentially CC rankings lol. 

[BillsShredder83]

18 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It may have something to do with rounding yardage to the nearest marker. Joe Marino explained it on one of his podcasts.

That's supposed to be after a 1st down though 

[BuffaloRebound]

10 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

 

Watch where the side judge comes to make this spot - he looks INTENT on marking it short from an angle he couldn’t possibly know where he landed.  
 

 

 

It’s an impossible job to spot that correctly 10 yards down the field looking through all the bodies and seeing where the ball was when the first non-hand/foot Shakir body part hits the ground which was his butt.  I don’t think refs are biased against the Bills.  Just impossible to spot accurately in some cases.  Almost needs to be a buzzer/button the ref pushes when he knows he needs help on a spot from the replay assist booth.  That’s the main problem is when the ref on the field has to make a call or spot even though he knows he has no idea then the replay booth upholds the BS call on the field because it’s close.