With three wild-card games that lacked controversy, the last game of the weekend had enough for all four, and then some. After the Cowboys-Lions game, referee Pete Morelli explained the decision to pick up the flag in what appeared to be an obvious case of pass interference in a key moment as Detroit was driving in Dallas territory with a 20-17 lead.
On third and one, Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens appeared to interfere with Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew. The flag was thrown, the foul was called, and then it all just went away.
“The back judge threw his flag for defensive pass interference,” Morelli told pool reporter Todd Archer of ESPNDallas.com. “We got information from another official from a different angle that thought the contact was minimal and didn’t warrant pass interference. He thought it was face guarding.”
Who thought it was face guarding?
“The head lineman,” Morelli said.
Asked what Morelli saw, he said, “It’s not my responsibility. I’m a hundred miles away.”
Morelli pointed out that face guarding, which happens when a defender uses his arms to deliberately obstruct the receiver’s ability to see the ball, isn’t a foul in the NFL.
“It is a penalty in college but not professional football,” Morelli said.
Asked whether he should have waited to announce the call until the head linesman had a chance to chime in, Morelli said, “Probably, yes. . . . The information came and then the officials got together a little bit later, after it was given to me, the first information. It would have probably been smoother if we got together.”
Morelli said the head linesman had the better view of the play. Regardless, replays showed that Hitchens did more than face guard Pettigrew. Some have suggested that Pettigrew committed interference of his own. Either way, a mistake was made -- and the mistake made by Morelli in announcing the call before wiping it out compounded the first one.
Coincidentally, NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino will be a guest on the first PFT Live radio show on Monday. The play probably will be discussed. A little.
