Originally posted by hofer36:
with the performance of gene sterratore and his crew....first of all im not blaiming them for the loss...they missed a all time great play by bowman but niners forced fumble....the running into the kicker penalty had more of an impact on the game as it denied niners a chance to move the ball downfield and gave seattle great field position and they scored (niners should have stopped them--so they cant really complain)
the embarassment comes from this being, supposedly one of their top crews and all of them miss bowman swiping the ball
and they dont know their own rule book, as to the fact that hittting the punters plant leg is roughing not running into the kicker, as mike perreria pointed out...damn, andy lee's ankle bent under the pressure exerted by the seahawk player...im sure pete carroll gladly trades a 5 yard penalty for taking out a pro bowl punter, even if he did have a bad game
i would be making this post if it happened in the bronco ats game, it is just an embarassment to a great game...and it is not the first embarassing game for the refs...jerome boger and his crew last superbowl, allowing cary williams o hit a ref, allowing bruce miller to be held on jones kickoff return for td and then not throwing a flag when all ravens players deliberately hold on their last punt.. again ravens were better team and beat niners regardless of refs, it is just embaraasing rodger goodall..to quote chris carter "cmon man"
It is always on a team to win the game but I completely agree. The issue isn't just them missing it, its loopholes in the rules that don't allow things to be reviewed. If they have to review every score, situations like those you described should be reviewed as well. Especially the fumble. I also think what Maragos did to Lee was intentional. He added a little extra roll. The NFL asks a lot of the refs and I really think what it comes down to is which ones made the least amount of mistakes in the previous playoff games. That crew was NOT very good but I have seen worse too.