NFL Downgrades Referee Ed Hochuli but Thank You

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The NFL has downgraded referee Ed Hochuli for blowing the call in Sunday’s game between the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers. The downgrade will affect his potential to referree games in the playoffs and whether he will remain a referee.

I would like to thank Ed Hochuli personally. Because of his botched call I was able to remain in my NFL Survivor Pool and I also won my Denver Broncos +0 wager. Thank you Mike Shannahan for having the guts to go for 2 points also.

Yes Hochuli is at fault, but how many times have you heard:

“There is no fumble on the play”
“There is no interception on the play”
“There is no touchdown on the play”

Followed by “because the whistle was blown, therefore the ball is dead.” Too many times ! Those games probably did not have that much of any impact as this game because the call was so late in the game. But that is not the problem. Here is how Ed Hochuli broke it down:

Ed Hochuli’s statement on the play:

“The ruling on the field was that it was an incomplete pass. We went to replay; it should have been ruled fumble. By rule, by the instant replay rules, on that particular play where there’s a pass/fumble, a quarterback pass/fumble the rules do not permit you to give the ball to the other team. All we can do to fix it is put the ball at the spot that it hit the ground, which is why we moved it back to the 10-yard line and the down counts and it becomes third down.”

Hochuli made a mistake. But by rule on an instant replay review on a pass/fumble, the rules does not permit you to give the ball to the other team. The play can be changed but his mistake cannot be changed. Another question would be if the Broncos were to fail on the 2-point conversion would this be a big deal ?

Here is an analysis by a Chargers fan:

There are about 7 referees on the field and probably an equal amount in a booth somewhere in the stadium. There has to be someone questioning or saying WAIT a minute this is not the right call somewhere. The problem with this particular call is that the Hochuli ruled the play dead on a fumble. What do we do with blown NFL calls ?

1. Allow coaches to challenge calls that they think are mistakes such as this. Right now the cant challenge dead ball calls. The play has to be a live play.
2. Add another 10 seconds in between plays so that someone can review the call on the previous play. This wont work because it will DRAG the games.
3. Add more officials in the booth to review plays before a snap, but after the ball is snapped you cant go back. However allow teams to call time outs to give the booth more time to review plays. Teams can stall if the think that potentially a call can be reversed. The play clock is 40 seconds there is enough time to stall knowing that a play is potentially being reivewed. You can add a rule that a play can no longer be reversed if there is 5 or less seconds left on the play clock. The team can call a time out to get them more time or they must challenge.

There’s not much you can do. Referee’s are humans. Plays have to have an end point. Again the only reason why this is such a big deal because it affected the outcome of the game. If the Chargers were up 31-10 in that game, it wouldnt have mattered.

If you have a suggestion to solve this problem, please leave a comment.

Some interesting sites have already spurned – leave the guy alone I must say. He did admit the blown call afterall. Check out these sites.

WWEHD – What Would Ed Hochuli Do.
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