Question about the Controversy at the Chargers game

[gibbs4president]

Y'know, Ed was at least man enough to admit he blew the call.

Most refs won't even give you that.

I generally don't have a problem with him, he's usually pretty good. It's a shame he has to be the example of all that is wrong with the current officiating.

Agree with all of that. Hopefully he doesn't lose his job over this, though that's very unlikely. It's not like he's the only one who's made a very ball call that's affected the outcome of a game.

[El Mexican]

Can you imagine the book Norv could write?

Practically every misfortune or incredible situation has happened to his teams.

This last one ranks among the "Gus vs. the wall" episode.

[welch]

From Wilbon in the Post:

On Hochuli, NFL Drops The Ball

By Michael Wilbon
Friday, September 19, 2008; E01

Let's get something straight right off the bat: Ed Hochuli didn't fail the NFL when he blew that call Sunday; the league failed him.

Of course, that didn't stop folks from bombarding the referee with critical e-mails this week, some of them hateful and threatening.

But Hochuli did something I doubt most NFL players or coaches would do:

He answered the e-mails personally. He didn't forward them to his bosses in New York. He didn't hide behind a professional spinmeister, didn't look to hire a spokesperson, didn't issue a terse "no comment" or try to pass the blame off on somebody else. Hochuli, in what has to have been his most difficult and perhaps even humiliating public moment, acted in as sportsmanlike a manner as is humanly possible.

He owned up to his mistake. He did it once when he walked over to Chargers Coach Norv Turner immediately after ruling an incompletion on what should have been a fumble. And he owned up repeatedly with e-mailers who hammered him, beginning Sunday night and lasting into the week. The San Diego Union-Tribune obtained copies of some of Hochuli's responses and quote the referee as writing back: "I'm getting hundreds of e-mails -- hate mail -- but I'm responding to it all. People deserve a response. You can rest assured that nothing anyone can say can make me feel worse than I already feel about my mistake on the fumble play. You have no idea. . . . Affecting the outcome of a game is a devastating feeling.

"Officials strive for perfection -- I failed miserably. Although it does no good to say it, I am very, very sorry." <snip>

Any official who admits a mistake is a hero, at least to me. Referees and umpires make instantaneous call all the time, and usually they get the call right. Doubt that? PLease volunteer/umpire to referee youth baseball, soccer, basketball, or football. The professionals are great...better at their jobs than the players.

I played youth baseball until I was 17, and I thought umpiring would be a snap.

No. It isn't.

Furthermore, to admit you've missed a call takes a powerful ethical core and courage.

I salute Hochuli. He missed the call, but his reaction is the "play of the year".

[Irn-Bru]

Heroic!

[Chris Luva Luva]

Same here, I just finished reading a simliar article and my heart kinda went out for the dude.

I hope that the NFL makes it so that plays aren't blown dead so quickly.

[Deadskins]

Same here, I just finished reading a simliar article and my heart kinda went out for the dude.

I hope that the NFL makes it so that plays aren't blown dead so quickly.

Or change the rule so that passing plays can be reviewed for possession after the whistle, like running plays can. Seems like a no-brainer that the first rule change should not have involved both running and passing plays.

[Countertrey]

Same here, I just finished reading a simliar article and my heart kinda went out for the dude.

I hope that the NFL makes it so that plays aren't blown dead so quickly.

There are two mutually exclusive goals at play...

1: Protecting high value players (read as QUARTERBACKS, primarily) from unecessary injury. This mandates a quick whistle to terminate play activity, and reduces player collisions.

2: The normal competitive desire to see a play through to it's natural conclusion. This places all players at some additional risk, as bodies continue to slam into the point of action.

I don't see an easy solution... unless the NFL wants to return to real football... as it was played when a WR was required to run a gauntlet, and a reception had to be truly earned.

[Thundersloth]

Countertrey, I agree that there is no easy solution to the problem. Any rule that says you can continue the play beyond the whistle is going to be a rule that puts players at risk, not just QBs.

Ed got the call wrong, but I wonder if any of us in his place would have done the same thing seeing the play in real time, not having the benefit of slow motion replay to see the "empty hand" come forward?

People sending the hate mail to a man who feels bad enough AND admitted he made a mistake need to get a life.

[BearSkins]

More controversy at the end of the Bears game on a huuuuuge 3rd down play. NFL refs suck right now, it seems.

[Skinsfan55]

You know, I watched this Broncos game pretty much start to finish, and I think it's silly that Chargers fans are complaining.

On that fumble that wasn't it would have just been a fluke play in the Chargers' favor. It's not like someone smashed Cutler and he fumbled, he just lost control of it, the Chargers didn't earn it, they whined about not getting a gimmie.

[SkinsJock]

You know, I watched this Broncos game pretty much start to finish, and I think it's silly that Chargers fans are complaining.

On that fumble that wasn't it would have just been a fluke play in the Chargers' favor. It's not like someone smashed Cutler and he fumbled, he just lost control of it, the Chargers didn't earn it, they whined about not getting a gimmie.

Well that is certainly a most reasonable assessment and I am glad that we can finally move on

I was a little surprised that so many were making such a big fuss over this - I am sure that Hochuli will feel a lot better if he would just read this insight.