Pass Interference?

[Sut'n Blue]

Not much going on in the baseball world right now so....

I know there are a number of people on here who also do football (I'm not one of them). Who among you think the pass interference call on Bouye during the Pats - Jags game was the right call or the wrong call and why?

 

[maven]

Here's the play:

 

[maven]

I work football, and am part of my association's teaching team. When we teach DPI, we train officials to categorize the action into 1 of 6 categories. If officials cannot classify action on a particular play, then it isn't a foul.

The two relevant categories that might be applied to this play are "early contact, not playing the ball," and "cutoff." The contact shown in the video is not sufficient for an "early contact" flag in the NFL, even though the defender was not playing the ball. There's not enough, and it doesn't substantially restrict the action of the receiver.

I would guess that the calling official would call this a cutoff. A cutoff occurs when a defender "rides" his receiver off his route, especially into the boundary.

In the video, we don't have a good angle for evaluating this call: we would need an EZ shot that showed how much leverage or force the defender used to "body" the receiver out. The angle we have makes the contact look too light to be a foul, which is generating the controversy. The deep wing, on the other hand, had a great look, and obviously saw enough to throw on it.

Where an official has a great look at action he's watching closely, and no camera angle is available to assess a call, we should conclude that the call is probably right. These guys don't get to the NFL by being flag-happy.

[BT_Blue]

I concur with Maven.

When watching that play live, I would have been surprised it wasn' flagged. 

[scrounge]

yea, I thought it was a cutoff, not surprised in the slightest that it drew a flag...

Getting a kick out of all the conspiracy theorists and morons (apologize for the redundancy) who are foaming at the 6 to 1 penalty disparity in NE's favor, as evidence of the Grand NFL Patriots Conspiracy. Never mind that same NFL spent millions upon millions in and out of federal court to suspend the main Patriot, but that just goes to show how committed they are to the Conspiracy. Yes, people think this - but I digress...

Of the 6 JAX penalties, two were automatics - a false start and a delay of game. Another was an uncontroversial illegal shift when there two in motion, as I recall. So we're down to 3 to 1, one obvious DPI when the DB grabbed the WR's neck, a personal foul/illegal hit that JAX's own coach said was a good call, and the cutoff DPI. 1 even slightly controversial penalty.

Wow, some conspiracy.

[Aging_Arbiter]

[ilyazhito]

Yes, totally a DPI, in the cutoff category. Could also be classified as not playing the ball.