Referees May Have Missed More Important Play
December 14th, 2010
While many Bucs fans stress and kvetch over the alleged fifth down play — many of those hollering over it lost money due to a point spread; the Bucs win be damned — there may have been a far more grievous sin by the zebras.
Was a touchdown robbed from Arrelious Benn?
It was early in the fourth quarter and the Bucs trailed by a mere point, 10-9. Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman connected with Benn for a 43-yard completion down the middle that with the naked eye Joe thought Benn scored on.
But no. The zebras said Benn was down at the one. Next play, Freeman fumbles into the end zone and the Redskins recover.
Unlike the phantom (?) fifth down play, this took points off the board for the Bucs. Yet this play seems to be swept under the rug by Bucs fans (gamblers?) and much of the focus of ire is on the alleged fifth down play.
Right-thinking Tom Balog of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune did not lose sight of the Benn catch. He wondered aloud if Raheem Morris should have challenged that play. Morris did not.
Benn may not have been touched down by Redskins safety Kareem Moore as his momentum took him into the end zone. And if the replay booth took a second look at the play, the Buccaneers may have been awarded a touchdown, a touchdown they otherwise would not get, as it turned out.
“I certainly thought about challenging it,” Morris said. “I’m on the 1 yard-line, I want to go score. I couldn’t get a good look at it from up top, not a good enough look to challenge it, to be worth it, until the next play.”
Again, if Joe was going to nitpick plays by the zebras, Joe would shine a spotlight on Benn not being awarded a touchdown rather than a couple of used car salesmen with connections in The District working the chains for peanuts.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:23 am
If you stop that video at 0:32 second mark, you can see the defender is touching Benn and he hasn’t broke the endzone plain.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:24 am
…..the “connected with Benn” link to NFL video.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:42 am
That play didnt seem close to me … The defender definitely made contact .. and if it was challenged .. It was far from clear evidence .. I rewound it about 3 times
The 5th down is a big deal .. The redskins in 5 plays never went further than 9 yards … I dont care if we won .. Its BS*
December 14th, 2010 at 11:50 am
There were bad calls on both sides of the ball in that game. The entire game was a sloppy mud fest.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Yea, real close: http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa22/Dfour14/Bennisdown.png
December 14th, 2010 at 11:53 am
I’m a Bucs homer. But I think the more important missed call was Donald Penn’s mugging of the D-lineman on Free’s TD pass to Winslow. We definitely caught a big break on the no-call there.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Benn was down. You have 1st and goal from the 1\2 yard line – I wouldn’t have challenged it either.
Let’s just hope we can beat the Lions. It’s no easy game.
December 14th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
Justin:
Call that non-call “payback.”
https://www.joebucsfan.com/?p=40934
December 14th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Justin, I thought the same thing…but…amen Joe!
The thing about bad calls is we all think our team is the only one that gets them. I do think Atlanta has had an easy go of it thisyear, but every fan of every team seems to think the refs are out to get them. It does seem like the bad teams have more calls go against them than the good teams, but I think it evens out in the long run.
December 14th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Do i have to keep pointing out how awful the Tampa Bay sports writers are?
This is Tom Balog making something out of absolutely nothing. I rewound this multiple times during the game and he was 100% without a doubt down by contact before he went in the endzone.
Also i hear what you guys are saying about the Penn holding call but those Refs weren’t calling ANYTHING all day long. At first I was pissed about it then I reaized they weren’t calling any holding calls against either team. It was actually pretty nice to have the game decided by the players instead of the zebras.
December 14th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Here’s a question… why does Benn seem to fall at the one yard line? Thats twice now
December 14th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I watched it 5 times during the break, and Benn was down. What I am loving is, Benn is becoming our BIG PLAY receiver and Williams is turning into our possession guy who can stretch the field as well (shades of Boldin and Fitzgerald) this is going to be an amazing receivers corps for a long time to come. Add a Welker type slot guy (I don’t think Sammie is it), and keep K2 healthy, though I like what I am seeing in both Purvis’ and Gilmore’s abilities in space & blocking (shades of Jason Whitten). The more you think about it, the better this team looks offensively, just need to get Huggy healthy for a change of pace vs our Blount Instrument, and this team will be able to put up points with the best of them. Defense, don’t ask, we’ll just use the “Greatest Show on Turf” philosophy “We can score more and faster than you”
December 14th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Nick … its the play call .. RUn to the ONE
December 14th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
nick Says:
December 14th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Here’s a question… why does Benn seem to fall at the one yard line? Thats twice now
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This is the kind of simple-minded thought process that drives me nuts. Seriously??
Hey Jerk Off, that’s where the ball was thrown to…
December 14th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
nick,
“Here’s a question… why does Benn seem to fall at the one yard line?”
Its a little known fact, but the 1 yard line is raised just enough to trip rookies! LOL!
“Thats twice now” Seriously, didn’t he have to dive to make the catch, on the first time?
December 14th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Is it just me or did anyone else see the dropped Williams passes?
Before I get flamed I’m a Williams fan but it seemed like a lot of the catches in prior games were not made in DC. Was it the slick ball or is Mike hitting that rookie wall?
I would REALLY like to see Benn get more 5 yard slant routes. He’s a punishing runner ONCE he has the ball.
December 14th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
This is the kind of simple-minded thought process that drives me nuts. Seriously??
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This coming from the guy who changed his screen name from Fire to Hire Greg Olson
December 14th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Again, if Joe was going to nitpick plays by the zebras, Joe would shine a spotlight on Benn not being awarded a touchdown rather than a couple of used car salesmen with connections in The District working the chains for peanuts.
WIth all due respect, Joe, you’re absolutely wrong…
December 14th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
Nick,
I changed the name the night before the Niners game with the prediction that we would work the Niners, which we did. I’m not gonna change my screen name every other week (like the haters do). I don’t see how my screen name excuses your pointless question.
December 14th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
wasnt even close
December 14th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Wow, I can’t believe I temporarily forgot all about HUGGY!! Blount and Huggy, man we will be sick next year!
As to the play, everyone is right, its not even close. I agree the 5th was bogus, but I’m willing to let it slide since Rah and team all don’t think it was a controversy. I’m just glad we won so we wouldn’t all go insane thinking everyone is out to get us.
December 14th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
What about the blatant penalty on Hall that should have at least drawn a 15 yard penalty. Touching the ref his ass should have been ejected too!
December 14th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
On a more positive note. We might actually finally get a rookie of the week winner.
Benn was nominated and the other guys on there don’t look all that spectacular.
December 14th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I think that rookie of the week should go to mccoy.
Him going down immediately improves the d line, especially the run d.
Nobody should be complaining about greaks not going the bucs way in that game. 2 missed chipshots, hall drops an easy pick six, botched pat, failure to call obvious hold on winslow td, wind blows ball off tee on kickoff to create an unintentional onside kick recovered by the bucs.
That was the most frequent and ridiculuously lucky sequence of one-sided breaks that allowed for a team to get grossly outplayed by a bad team and still win.
And you sheep are still complaining about the refs? Come on, be real. You should be sending flowers and candy to those officials for not calling penn for the mugging.
December 14th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
if your’re hands are up you won’t get called for holding… even if you close-line the guy.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Those refs weren’t calling anything. On either team.
I think there were only three flags called in the whole game.
I’d much prefer it that way than when they call every little thing.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Justin,
I think it was a good no -call on Penn. He had a hand on his side and one in front and rode him. The DE was acting like he was getting held, but he really was not.
Either way, whatever, I hate talking about ref or ump calls after a game. They do NOT affect the outcome. The players on both side have every opportunity.
The skins ran all over the Bucs for a half and then got shut out.
The skins had 2 short FGs & an extra point and missed.
They got what they deserved.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
God there are so many stupid things in Thomas 2.1’s comment but I just don’t have the strength to deal with it today.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
THOMAS 2.1:
Blaming McCoy for the entire front 7 getting run all over… seriously?
Like the the ENTIRE YEAR, the whole defense did much better in the second half. Raheem makes great adjustments. It is NOT McCoy. Hell, you could argue that there have been some games where he is the ONLY D-Lineman that looked any good.
Like I said, the entire front 7 played, executed and schemed horribly in the first half. AplAyer change did nothing to affect it, it was adjustments.
As far as the phontom hold on Penn…. look at it again. Penn’s hands are up with one high on the side and one in front. As the DE tries to turn , he moves with him but does not actually hold. The DE made it look worse.
After the TD catch I was holding my breath wondering if a flag was thrown though.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
ok Thomas i’ll bite…
“2 missed chipshots” …last time I checked football was a team sport and the kicker was part of the team. Our kicker made 3 kicks that were not chipshots.
“failure to call obvious hold on winslow td”…. the refs weren’t calling holding all day so there was no reason for either team to complain about this. They were being consistant in their non-calls for both teams.
” hall drops an easy pick six”… good point but unfortunately you forget to mention that Ronde dropped an INT that was also a sure touchdown so that kind of evens out. Not to mention that Hall probably should have been ejected for shoving a ref.
“wind blows ball off tee on kickoff to create an unintentional onside kick recovered by the bucs.”… this one is completely ridiculous becuase if the wind blows the ball off of the tee the kicker can stop the play and start over.
Do you even watch these games or just read the news paper the next day to find out what happend?
December 14th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Not to mention D-Money, the Bucs were better prepared to recover the crazy onside kick. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity, the Bucs capitalized and the Skins did not…pretty simple really. Anyone who has ever played a team sport can tell you that the above statement is true.
December 14th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
I beleive McCoy went out well before the D decided to play.
December 14th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Thomas doesn’t watch the games, that’s very obvious now. It’s also very obvious he has never played a team sport, unless you consider band a team sport.
December 14th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
The more you guys respond to a dumbass like 2.1 your feeding into his stupud world. Just ignore his dumbass comments and eventually he’ll go away. We can only hope!!
December 14th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Brad +1
December 14th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
There were not “5” downs on that last score by the Skins. The TV just had it wrong with it’s overlayed line and the down posting on TV. The sideline gent was correct as it was a first down when the receiver caught the slant at the 2 yard line. Replay it and you will see the receiver clearly got a first down on the catch. Just great defense for 3 of the 4 plays by the Bucs D. The 4th down, Ronde can’t be expected to cover man up Santana Moss, where was our middle LB on that play … exactly, no where to be found, just as Rudd always is. He is our single biggest weakness on Defense. Our line takes their gaps so he can make the tackle and he is being blocked 5 yards deep and cannot clear himself. He is not a starter on most teams … not in the middle. Perhaps weak side …
December 14th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
there was 5 downs john. if u seen the play on first down was for 9 yards from the 12 yard line to the 3. they loss yards on the next play, and then missed on two pass plays, game was supposed to be over.