The Chargers push-and-pick against the Broncos couldn’t have been pass interference

Some Denver Broncos fans and players are still hot about an alleged pass-interference foul late in their victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

In the fourth quarter, with the Broncos leading by 17, Denver receiver Bennie Fowler ran a short comeback route and was defended by Desmond King. As the ball was in the air, King clearly contacted Fowler and most Broncos fans figured it would be an easy DPI call, erasing the ensuing interception.

Except, it wasn’t DPI by rule. Despite Fowler claiming an official admitted he missed an interference call, he didn’t. (In fact, what he probably said was “I didn’t see that,” not “I missed the call).

To be clear, the NFL has issued no statement saying the official missed pass-interference.

Rule 8.5.1 is crystal clear (with key elements here in bold):

It is pass interference by either team when any act by a player more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage significantly hinders an eligible player’s opportunity to catch the ball. ... Defensive pass interference rules apply from the time the ball is thrown until the ball is touched.

To set up the play, the line of scrimmage was the Chargers’ 49-yard-line.

The receiver was at the 48 when the ball was thrown (and the ball never even got to the line of scrimmage):

Because DPI cannot happen until the ball is thrown, we cannot have pass interference on this play because the players were not, as the rule says “more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage ... from the time the ball is thrown.”

Even Mike Pereira agrees:

Still, there could be a conversation about holding by King. There is some restriction at the top of the route, and there is contact as both players make a play on the ball.

The latter is probably going to be disregarded because they were both making a bona fide play on the ball and the responsibility of the holding was not clear. Their arms got tangled, but is that a hold? Maybe.

Fowler pushes his arm back to ward off King. Did that cause the entanglement? From the angle of the covering official it’s tough to see and assess cause and responsibility. The best position to see the arm tangle is from the former position of the umpire behind the defensive line, but he’s no longer there.

As for the restriction at the top of the route, given the push-off by Fowler and the amount of hand-fighting that goes on between receivers and defenders at the snap, it’s more than understandable why any official would look off of this less than two yards deep.

Yet there’s one more element to this play that no one has talked about. As the ball is in the air, tight end A.J. Derby blocks King in the back. It’s obvious:

The first element to think about is, what role did Derby’s illegal block play in these two players going to the ground? Again, hard to say, making the alleged holding foul even more difficult to call.

The second consideration: Was this a foul? Rule 3.4 could not be more clear:

A Block in the Back is a block that is delivered from behind an opponent above his waist.

Again, an official is going to lay off of that because it just wasn’t big enough to call. It may have had an effect on the allegations of “holding” by King, but no official is going to throw a flag on this.

As I’ve written before, philosophy is just as important as the rules in officiating a football game. What people call “ticky tack” fouls like this aren’t called, even though the block can be taken into account when assessing a possible foul by King.

Regardless, Fowler and Broncos fans are simply incorrect about claims of defensive pass interference, because the action did not meet the qualifications for DPI.

Cyd Zeigler is a high school and college football official in Los Angeles. He is also the co-editor of SBNation’s Outsports.com.