Ahmad Brooks didn’t mince words in his recounting of the roughing the quarterback penalty on Sunday: “I think this (stuff) is bull(tacos),” Brooks was quoted on ESPN.com “Football, the way they call stuff these days, it’s watered down. It ain’t real no more.”
His gripe seems legitimate. Replays show his arm went around the collarbone area of Drew Brees and dragged the quarterback to the ground. The play caused Brees to fumble the ball, which was recovered by the 49ers.
Only the flag came out.
But that was on a slow motion replay of a rather brutal hit. The official in real speed saw the neck jerk violently and rationally concluded it was an illegal hit. And it cost the 49ers an opportunity.
What the 49ers need to know, however, is they cannot allow a bad call from an official cost them the game. San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to pull away from the Saints — even at the end of the game — but failed to do so because of a lack of execution.
Colin Kaepernick had an opportunity to kill clock, but went out of bounds allowing the Saints to keep a time out at the end of the game. The run game — which is the bread and butter of the 49ers — was held to just 81 yards.
And there are a myriad of other factors that would have taken that play out of the official’s hands.
That said, there really needs to be some kind of change made with respect to judgment calls deciding games.
The NFL already reviews a large swath of plays, including a small amount of penalties. Why not add those penalties that clearly have an impact on the game?
The league can put in a rule — much like turnovers and scoring plays are now — that says if a penalty is called negates a score or it nullifies a turnover, the booth must review it. Then you have the same standard as anything else with incontrovertible video evidence needed to overturn a call. In this case, the letter of the rule is no blows to the head or neck area. Brooks’ arm was below the neck and was legal.
The league is doing a valiant effort trying to make the game safer by trying to regulate out vicious head blows, but at some point, it’s still tackle football and hard hits will still come.
But for the Niners, they really need to play with some urgency because they are in danger of being a one and done team in the playoffs unless they turn things around.
High school refs, it’s 1-2-3-4 not 1-3-4 or 1-2-4
Speaking of replays, I’m starting to think getting replay in high school might need to happen.
I know there are technological limitations at schools, but when I witness in twice in as many days officials forgetting which down it is, something needs to be done.
I normally don’t like criticizing officials for calls. In high school, I don’t expect every call to be right and I expect to be a little mad at some calls, but usually the officials understand the basics of counting to four.
On Friday, Evergreen Valley had a first down against Live Oak and ran two plays. The officials ruled it to be fourth, forcing the Cougars to punt. The ensuing play resulted in the Acorns muffing the punt and Evergreen scoring a touchdown.
The next day, Christopher got a first down on a long pass, was awarded five yards on defensive offsides and ran a pass play on first down. The officials then declared it to be third and vehemently argued with the coaching staff when it (correctly) pointed out the flaw in the official count.
That play resulted in Christopher turning the ball over on downs.
What’s even more appalling is this was the final week of the regular season — playoffs start next week. These kinds of calls cannot be made in the playoffs when it could cost a team a legitimate chance at a title.
There needs to be some way a coach can challenge a ruling — be it a scoring play or something as basic as what down it is. It can be an extra official in a press box or on top of the stands that can over turn calls, or have rudimentary video review.
All the games are taped anyway. There can be a camera that can be hooked into a laptop during the game to review.
Something, anything, is better than the system in place now where coaches have no recourse over a blatantly bad call.
