NFL VP Of Officiating Says Cowboys Got Away With Holding
By Ray Boyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In the world of sports, it is universally accepted that it is always better for games to be decided in a manner that is not because of the officiating. The Cowboys-Lions playoff match up on Sunday did not go that way and the NFL Vice President of Officiating, Dean Blandino, appeared on NFL Network on Monday to clarify the issue.
In the closing minutes, the Lions faced a 3rd and one while up by three. The Cowboys were flagged on the play for pass interference, the call was announced in the stadium and then the flag was picked up.
During the incident, Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant ran onto the field without his helmet to argue with officials prior to them picking up the flag.
The entire situation was the talk of social media and prompted a response from Blandino on Monday.
"I certainly could have supported it if they left the flag down," Blandino said on Monday. "I would have supported the foul. But I think it's a close judgment call where you have two officials with differing opinions on it."
Blandino clearly left the pass interference call up to interpretation, but he did stress that the crew mishandled the way they executed the picking up of the flag.
"You don't see it often that a penalty's announced and then that much later, the flag is picked up," Blandino admitted. "I thought from a mechanics standpoint, it should've been handled a little bit better where, just hold off on the announcement, get together, make sure we've got all the information, and then just make one announcement."
After addressing the pass interference call and ultimately deciding that it could have gone either way, Blandino admitted that there was a clear holding call that should have been made against the Cowboys defender that would have resulted in a Lions' first down.
"There is a jersey grab," Blandino said in reference to the play in question. "When you see the jersey grab before the ball is thrown, that's defensive holding."
The last bit of controversy surrounding the call dealt with the fact that Bryant was allowed to take to the field and argue the call with no helmet on without being flagged. Blandino clarified that the helmet off rule only applies to players that are in the game at the time and that the referees are given discretion to decide whether or not a player is arguing a call in an "unsportsmanlike" manner.
"If they had flagged [Bryant], I'd support it, but it's not an automatic," Blandino added.
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