That onside kick is still bothering me.

[dieterbrock]

@dieterbrock Calling fair catch had total upside as long as the ball didn't hit the ground. Calling fair catch would mean they are not allowed to tackle him and jar the ball loose. On-sides kicks are rarely to never returned.[/QUOTE]
I watched the kickoff over a couple of times and seeing where Marquez was lined up, I have a hard time believing he knew the ball wasnt driven in to the ground before it popped in to the air, like it is done the majority of the time.

As for the upside, I dont see any. He caught the ball and immediately went down, a defensive player couldnt jar the ball loose at that point because as soon as contact is made the play is dead. And as it was, even calling for fair catch, he still got hit...

Marquez made a great play, an awesome grab and I love the kid for it. But I'm more on the side of "we got away with one there" more than granting him a "heads up" play.

Its a game of inches at times and that kickoff is proof to that

 

[Ken]

@dieterbrock Calling fair catch had total upside as long as the ball didn't hit the ground. Calling fair catch would mean they are not allowed to tackle him and jar the ball loose. On-sides kicks are rarely to never returned.

I watched the kickoff over a couple of times and seeing where Marquez was lined up, I have a hard time believing he knew the ball wasnt driven in to the ground before it popped in to the air, like it is done the majority of the time.

As for the upside, I dont see any. He caught the ball and immediately went down, a defensive player couldnt jar the ball loose at that point because as soon as contact is made the play is dead. And as it was, even calling for fair catch, he still got hit...

Marquez made a great play, an awesome grab and I love the kid for it. But I'm more on the side of "we got away with one there" more than granting him a "heads up" play.

Its a game of inches at times and that kickoff is proof to that[/QUOTE]
I heard him interviewed about the play. The players were told to watch the ball and reminded to not run back for KR blocking until they were sure it wasn't an onsides kick. He claimed he thought it was kicked in the air, but after the penalty was called he was unsure and concerned he might have messed up.

 

[-X-]

But the officials didn’t listen to Fisher, a longtime member of the Competition Committee who’s well-versed in the rulebook.

“They just said, ‘We’re going to give you the ball right here. We’re not going to re-kick, so let’s go,’’’ Fisher said, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I just couldn’t convince them to enforce the penalty because they just wouldn’t put the ball on the 35-yard-line.’’

Fisher said that it was such an unusual play that he’s not surprised it wasn’t officiated perfectly, and he appreciates the league acknowledging the error.

Just re-reading this thread and am still astonished that officials, whose job is to KNOW every rule, could be so stupid about this. I mean if Fisher knows it, then why wouldn't the people charged with enforcing it know the same thing? It's not like this is a job for Initech where everyone didn't get the memo about the TPS report cover sheets. This is a high profile job for a billion dollar industry where the office is on National television. These dipshits should know every single rule inside and out for every scenario, and they should know it like the back of their hands. And worse, the head official had to be TOLD by another official that he fucked it up in the first place. And then ... NONE of them knew that there was another penalty still needing to be enforced.

Full-time officials, NFL. Full-time vetted, trained, and accountable officials.
Keep trotting these asshats out here, and they will single-handedly ruin your product.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Just re-reading this thread and am still astonished that officials, whose job is to KNOW every rule, could be so stupid about this. I mean if Fisher knows it, then why wouldn't the people charged with enforcing it know the same thing? It's not like this is a job for Initech where everyone didn't get the memo about the TPS report cover sheets. This is a high profile job for a billion dollar industry where the office is on National television. These dipshits should know every single rule inside and out for every scenario, and they should know it like the back of their hands. And worse, the head official had to be TOLD by another official that he freaked it up in the first place. And then ... NONE of them knew that there was another penalty still needing to be enforced.

Full-time officials, NFL. Full-time vetted, trained, and accountable officials.
Keep trotting these asshats out here, and they will single-handedly ruin your product.

I am with you. The average official makes $170,000... So I'm not sure where that would go if they worked fulltime... Probably not much higher.

And what does fulltime mean? I suspect they would work in the offseason studying? Helping teams with the rules, etc?

 

[-X-]

I am with you. The average official makes $170,000... So I'm not sure where that would go if they worked fulltime... Probably not much higher.

And what does fulltime mean? I suspect they would work in the offseason studying? Helping teams with the rules, etc?

Yes, exactly that. Full-time means that's your ONLY job. It's not like the NFL is cutting corners to make ends meet. Pay these guys like $300K a year and make them fully accountable for their actions. Including docking checks for blatant errors out on the field. And there also needs to be an official in the booth (a real, hardcore ex-NFL-official) who can give real-time interpretations and immediately correct errors. It wouldn't be like challenges that take forever, but just a guy up in the booth who can immediately correct things and send down word on what to do in situations like we saw against SEA. THAT guy should be the head official.