Re: Week 1 of the NFL
Steelers won ugly, but that is what the men of steel are, so it is okay.
The Bears won for the record, but not in reality. I also understand the rule, and by the rules, it was the correct call ... there was no "football move" (whatever that is) before he used the ground to control the ball (really???). By the letter of the law, if that play had been made at the 50, it would have been an incomplete pass. However, the ball only has to cross the goal line, so by definition, do you need to do the "football move?" For a completion, yes, a touchdown, no. But it has to be a completion before it is a touchdown.
This was a no win call. You either had to make a call that was "morally correct" and against the rules, or make a call that in accordance to the rules, but morally wrong. Either way it was going to be bad, and yes, the rule needs tweaked, in my opinion.
Another late game call was the hold on the last play of the Dallas game. All game I felt that there were some late flags on Dallas, but when I watched the review, the calls were so blatant that the officials HAD to call them. When Dallas scored to win with no time left on the clock (I hate Dallas, but had them picked in the Pick'em Contest) only to be called back because of the hold and because it was an offensive foul, game over, I was bummed, but when they showed that it wasn't a hold, it was an all out mugging, I guess that is the way it had to be ... just hate for a game to end that way.
All in all, it was a good week, a semi-predictable week, an ugly week, a typical first week. More will be known about the season after week 2, because teams make the most improvement between weeks one and two. Now that they are getting used to playing complete games, understanding their new team mates better, etc.
Bring on Week 2!
