Super Bowl Ref Mike Carey Almost Blew Whistle

The most talked about play in the Super Bowl, which I guess is simply known as "The Play", almost didn't even happen according to head official Mike Carey. In an article in the New York Daily News (found via the fanhouse) Carey says:

"radar was definitely up, because I knew a sack, or at least grasp and control, was imminent,"

"It didn't quite happen," Carey said. "But boy it was close."

"I anticipated a sack,"

The article goes on to say...

Carey saw enough to be convinced that Manning's forward momentum never stopped. If it had, he would've had to blow the whistle and declare Manning "in the grasp and control" of the Patriots defense, which would've ended the play and resulted in a drive-crippling sack.

As we've mentioned before, thankfully Carey kept the whistle silent and let the play happen. I haven't heard anyone say that Carey made the wrong call, but I've heard some say that they wouldn't have blamed him or faulted him if he did blow the play dead. I can't imagine the outcry we'd be hearing if Eli launches that ball and Tyree catches it only to find out that Carey had blown the play dead.

By the way - considering the Giants amazing run to a thrilling Super Bowl victory, you have to wonder if college football still thinks their system is better. The NFL just set record setting ratings, and I seriously have to imagine that as popular as college football is, if they could somehow figure out a way to put together a ligitimate playoff system, they could see similar ratings from over time.

Mike Carey - Ref Grade

I said a few weeks back that I thought Mike Carey was a great official, and all he did last night was back up that statement. He and his crew were on top of their game last night, and there were only a few minor calls that were either missed or called wrong. While breaking down the officials over at fanhouse, MDS said this:

"Unlike many big games of this NFL season, people aren't talking about the officials today. Referee Mike Carey and his crew had a good game, and they deserve a lot of credit today.

Yes, some will nitpick individual calls. Giants receiver Amani Toomer maybe should have been called for offensive pass interference on his 38-yard catch in the second quarter. The Patriots shouldn't have had to challenge the Giants' 12 men on the field penalty; that was a call that the official on the sideline should have seen. Carey seemed awfully quick on the draw to call a delay of game penalty against the Giants."

The biggest missed call in my opinion, was the push off by Toomer. That play was followed up though by an Eli Manning interception a few plays later so it didn't really matter.

Another call that could be questioned was the fumble that appeared to be recovered by the Patriots, but then Ahmad Bradshaw overturned the Pats defender and literally stripped the ball out of his hand. But I can understand the officials having to give that to the Giants after clearing up the pile and finding that a Giants player has the ball. That's just strength against strength and Bradshaw won that battle.

Bottom line - as MDS said - we're not talking about the officials today, and for Carey and crew... that's a win!

Penalties for the game:
Giants (4-36)
Patriots (5-35)

I'd say a fair game for sure! I give them an A (not a plus, but not a minus, a solid A)

Discussing the NFL's private use policy

Found in this morning's Washington Post:

"The NFL said, however, that the copyright law on its games is long-standing and the language read at the end of each game is well known: 'This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this telecast or any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is prohibited.'"

I'm sure we all remember hearing this, though isn't it at the end of the game? That seems a little backwards. Maybe it's in that little montage right before kickoff. I don't remember anymore. But here's one, especially for your lawyerly types - how do blogs work? Can I write a blog entry about this game? Perhaps on my personal blog, I'm not looking to make any money, though the company that hosts my blog and inserts ads on the page is. And what about bigger sports blogs such as TBL, Deadspin, etc. that (I assume) make a bit of profit on ads? Do they actually have rights from the NFL to blog about the game? Live blogs of events would certainly count as descriptions or accounts of the game.

Related: Blogger shut out of media day

Super Bowl Fun

I caught this little tidbit while reading the Ladies... guide to "How not to throw a Super Bowl Party". The fun times guide gives you this idea to make the game just a little more exciting:

Make your own yellow penalty flags to throw when a brazen penalty occurs, the ref misses a penalty call, the ref makes a bad call, or for any reason at all! Can you imagine all those yellow flags flying around your party?

Just the thought of this makes me rub my face in disgust while laughing. As if we all need yellow flags and red flags to throw around. If you have someone at your party that would throws a red flag - you can point them to the review both right outside the front door.

Oh... and in case you're interested the fun times guide also included instructions on how to make your very own yellow flag:

Purchase or find: Yellow fabric such as linen or nylon, rubber bouncing balls about 1" diameter, and rubber bands.

Cut the fabric into rectangles that are about 1 foot by 1 1/2 feet.

Place the bouncing ball in the middle of the fabric.

Pull up all four sides of the fabric together.

Wrap a rubber band around the fabric to cinch the ball in place. You may need to wrap the rubber band around several times to ensure a tight fit.

Enjoy the game friends...

Super Bowl Officiating Crew

Yesterday we mentioned that Mike Carey will become the first african american to be the head official for a Super Bowl. Well... just like Mike, these guys were also rated #1 at their position based on merit and will join Carey for the big game. The rest of the Super Bowl officiating crew, with their regular season crew chief is in parenthesis:

Umpire: Tony Michalek (Parry)
Head linesman: Gary Slaughter (Leavy)
Line judge: Carl Johnson (Austin)
Field judge: Boris Cheek (Green)
Side judge: Larry Rose (Green)
Back judge: Scott Helverson (Hochuli)
Alternate referee: Walt Coleman (Coleman)
Alternate umpire: Dan Ferrell (Carey)
Alternate: Ed Camp (Austin)
Alternate: Carl Cheffers (Nemmers)
Alternate: Greg Steed (Triplette)

It was also mentioned that it's purely coincidence that Carey was the head referee for the Patriots and Giants week 17 game. Carey and crew were apparently chosen last week before the NFL knew who the two Super Bowl teams would be. In case you were wondering, during that game in week 17, there were 5 penalties accepted for 42 yards against the Patriots and there were 5 penalties accepted for 53 yards against the Giants.

In other related Super Bowl officiating news... our friendly reader Mile High did some research on the Super Bowl refs and found some interesting tidbits going all the way to the 1990 season:

-- Walt Anderson has been a white hat since 2003. He has done playoff games each of the last four seasons (2004-2007; can't get a playoff assignment in the first year).
-- Gerry Austin has been a white hat since 1990. The only years he has missed the playoffs were 1990, 1991 (couldn't do first two years?), 2004 and 2005
-- Mike Carey has been the most consistent. He has been a white hat since 1995. He's only missed the playoffs in 1995 and 1996 (again, needed three years' of experience?)
-- Bill Carrollo became a white hat in 1996. He's only missed 1996, 1997, 2005 and 2007. Interesting he has missed two of the past three and has four conference title games and a Super Bowl since 1999.
-- Walt Coleman has been a white hat since 1995. Has only missed 1995, 2002 and 2006 in the playoffs.
-- Ed Hochuli has been a white hat since 1992. He's only missed 1992 (obvious) and 2006 (don't know what's up with him missing last year, but that's pretty interesting)
-- Terry McAulay (I like how he works a game) has been a white hat since 2001. He's only missed 2001 and 2003. 2003 is very strange, actually. He went championship game (2002), missed (2003), divisional and super bowl (2004), championship game (2005), championship game (2006), championship game (2007)
-- Peter Morelli: White hat since 2003. Has only missed 2003.

Thanks MH! Keep the tips/suggestions/tidbits coming.