General

Bad Call Mars Cardinals’ Victory Over Eagles

Jan 19, 2009, 2:48 PM UTC

I know that it is undignified after your team loses a big playoff game to whine about the officiating, particularly when your other team just won the World Series and, thus, clearly the Fates have been smiling on you in some considerable measure such that you should not resort to complaining in defeat. â†µâ†µBut look, I’m from the Philly diaspora, and dignified is not how we roll. So allow me to refer you to the Eagles’ last offensive play from scrimmage last night and ask you WHAT THE FRICKIN FLIPPIN FRIG? If that wasn’t pass interference, what the hell is pass interference? â†µ

â†µâ†µIf you didn’t watch the game, the situation was this: With about 2:50 or so left in regulation, the Iggles needed a touchdown and an extra point to tie, a two-point conversion to win. Their offense had been helpless all first half, but in the second half they tore it up, posting three unanswered scores to go from being down 24-6 at half to being up 25-24 (due to a missed extra point and a failed two-point conversion) with 10:45 left in the fourth quarter.â†µ

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â†µAt which point, after getting seriously stuffed by the Eagles’ D in the third quarter, Kurt “Godspell” Warner and the rest of the Cards’ offense got its groove back, marching on a near-seven-minute drive downfield that culminated in a Warner-to-Tim Hightower eight-yard TD. Cards went for two, converted, and there we were -- 32-25 with 2:53 remaining. Enter D-Mac.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe way McNabb and his crew had gone all Dr. Jekyll in the second half led me to feel pretty confident at that point, I must admit. All I was wondering was -- would Andy Reid have the audacity to go for two and the win? I was thinking that if he did and they converted, he would be a legend in Philly forever and all bad blood concerning his era would be immediately forgiven by the Phaithful.â†µ

â†µâ†µWith the pressure on, however, Donovan reverted to his first half edition and started spraying passes all over the place, behind Hank Baskett, over DeSean Jackson. The next thing I knew it was 4th and 10 for all the marbles.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd that 4th and 10 … that was the offending play. Kevin Curtis runs a simple down-and-out 15 yards downfield along the right sideline, McNabb nails him, but as Curtis goes to catch the ball, his cover-man, former Eagle Roderick Hood, falls down behind him. As he falls, he reaches out to pull Curtis down as Curtis goes toward the ball -- a rock-solid second before the ball arrives. Stumbling to the ground, Curtis almost makes the catch anyway, leading one to feel sure that, unmaligned, the catch was a lay-up. To my eyes, it was about as clear-cut P.I. as you can see out there, and Curtis felt the same way, leaping to his feet immediately afterwards and yelling for the flag.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe flag that never came. Man, it was criminal to sit there staring at that flagless field filled with celebrating Cardinals, scrutinizing all that green for some tiny shred of yellow. None other than Troy Aikman, who every Eagle fan will tell you has no love lost for Philly in his announcing bias, pointed out that it looked like pass interference. What he didn’t point out, however, was how much damage Hood saved his organization by pulling Curtis down at that opportune moment. If he didn’t, Curtis catches the ball with a lot of field behind him and his cover-man on the ground. â†µ

â†µâ†µEarlier in the game, Curtis had proven to the national audience just how fast he is by managing to get outside and turn the corner on noted speedster, Cardinals’ cornerback Dominque Rogers-Cromartie. When they showed a wide shot replay, based on the nearest Cardinals defender that I saw downfield, I thought Curtis had at least another 15 yards of open sideline before he was likely to get pushed out of bounds, and I was being conservative in that estimate.â†µ

â†µâ†µSo there you have it, I’ve gotten it off my chest. It was a horrible non-call at a crucial moment to say the least and a genuine testament to the powers of home-field advantage, because I feel absolutely certain that if yesterday’s game was at the Linc, the flag would have been thrown. Would the Eagles have scored the tying (or winning) touchdown? Who knows? We’ll never know. But a conversion of a 4th and 10 right then certainly would have had an already shaky Cards’ D pushing the panic button. You can never be sure, but I would have loved our odds. â†µ

â†µâ†µIn conclusion, I thank the heavens that the Phils recently won the World Series or I might have been up all night writing letters to Roger Goodell. As it was, I merely annoyed my wife about it for a few hours and went to bed in a bad mood. God bless you, Cole Hamels.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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