Tom Brady took
the field with 59 seconds left and 80 yards to go. Everybody knew what was
coming. It was Brady magic time. But instead the Carolina Panthers defensive
line brought the heat and forced Brady to three straight incompletions bringing
up a fourth and ten. On 4th down, Brady was ice cold, throwing a
dart to Rob Gronkowski for a first down. Brady calmly marched down the field to
the Panthers 25 in typical Tom Brady fashion. Then came the final throw: Tom
Brady took the snap, stepped up in the pocket and threw a rather weak and
fluttery pass to the middle of the end zone. It was intercepted and the stadium
erupted. Then there was a yellow flag thrown. The officials huddled up and with
everybody expecting “Pass Interference, Defense number 59. Foul occurred in the
end zone so ball will be placed at the one yard line. 1st down New
England, one untimed play”, the official said “There was no foul on the play,
the game has ended.” Patriots fans were stunned. Tom Brady was furious. Ryan
Mallet followed Brady. Yet they got no explanation.
After the game,
Belichick was furious. You could tell by his stone cold answers. The reporters
seemed scared to even ask him questions and at times you could hear a pin drop.
Brady was less angry, and for a good reason. He knows that it didn’t matter
whether the refs missed the call or not, his team did not deserve to win that
game. He said multiple times, “No excuses.” He was asked repeatedly whether he
got an explanation. In pure Brady fashion, he smiled and said no.
Now the question
is whether the officials got it right or not. In my opinion, I think they
initially did get it right. No doubt about it, it was a pass interference. The
officials had actually called a holding penalty against Devin McCourty on a
similar looking play. The officials after the game just tired to cover
themselves and said it was uncatchable. That’s bullcrap because Gronkowski
initially got touched midway through the end zone and was driven back to the
back line while the ball was still in the air. You can see on tape from the
back end zone angle that Gronkowski’s momentum had stopped, trying to get the
ball, but Luke Kuechly was turned to Gronk not looking at the ball. To me, it
seems like a simple call and obviously that’s how the back judge felt also. The
officials blew it.
That being said,
the officials blew that call. They did not blow the game. The Patriots lost the
game because of a lot of mental errors and poor execution. At times, the
Patriots looked invincible, with Brady playing lights out all night against a
top-notch defense in the NFL. The Patriots arguably had their best drive of the
year that culminated in a Brady to Gronkowski touchdown. However, mixed into
all that was Aqib Talib loosing his cool and getting benched (he also did not
finish the game due to injury). There was also Stevan Ridley fumbling the ball
in the red zone, which turned out to be huge. There was also a questionable
play on third and one to throw the ball, then after not picking it up, to kick
the field goal besides going for it. So in a lot of way the Patriots beat
themselves before that last play. But props also must be given to Cam Newton,
who just had his turning point in his career. That was a pure “Superman” game by
Cam, highlighted on one drive specifically in which he ran 14 yards on 3rd
and 7 (he actually ran a total of 72 yards) and then finished the drive with an
accurate pass in the end zone to Greg Olsen.
So yes, the
officials blew the call. Even Mike Pereira, former VP of officiating
acknowledged that on twitter saying, “You could make a case that the pass might
have been uncatchable, but the flag was thrown and you should stay with it. My
thoughts.” Also another referee, Jim Daopoulos, took to twitter “The pass was
catchable..not illegal contact since the ball was in the air…contact on 87
occurs prior to interception. It’s a foul and called!” That was before the
officials picked the flag back up. So clearly that call was blown but the blame
rests on the Patriots for letting it come down to that. Also credit to Cam
Newton for putting together a masterful performance. But the Patriots better
clean up these errors with Denver coming to town. Super Bowl chances are
starting to look bleak in New England.
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