Daopoulos: 'Nothing Exact' About Referees Spotting Football
BOSTON (CBS) -- The New England Patriots were the beneficiaries of a generous spot in their 17-16 win over the New York Jets on Sunday.
The play came late in the fourth quarter, with the Patriots clinging to that one-point lead. Tom Brady connected with Danny Amendola on a wide receiver screen, and Amendola was brought down close to the 48-yard line, which was where the Patriots needed to get in order to pick up a first down.
The officials called for the chains to come onto the field, and the television broadcast appeared to clearly show the football about an inch shy of the first-down marker. But referee Brad Allen signaled for a first down, creating a bit of confusion on the field.
Jets head coach Rex Ryan challenged the spot, but despite the replays making it look as though Amendola was short of moving the chains, the officials did not overturn the play. The Jets lost a timeout from the failed challenge, and the Patriots were then able to run out the clock and hang on to their lead for their 12th win of the season.
Tony Massarotti called the spot "a gift" for the Patriots and Michael Felger strongly disagreed with the call, saying it was very clear where the ball should have ended up. Former supervisor of NFL officials Jim Daopoulos joined Felger and Mazz on Monday to discuss the controversial call, and said he wasn't surprised the call was upheld after a review.
"It's spotting the ball, which is such a tough thing. There is nothing exact about it, it's a guess by the officials," said Daopoulos. "When you try to look at it on film, if you don't have a perfect shot down the line you can't tell. They did exactly what I thought they would do: They put the ball down where they thought it was. It went to the replay and it stands because they can't really tell.
"It's one of those things that was fortunate for the Patriots and not for the Jets," he said. "They gave a pretty exact spot, but how often have you seen them change the spot of a ball like that? Very often they'll just let it stand, and that's the way the league is going with those reviews. They're going to try to let things stand as often as possible."
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