Needing some serious help with the officiating here

[Sean_Taylor_hero]

okay, first off, how on earth was that Cooley fumble ruled a fumble? from the replay I saw (which wasnt very thorough but it looked very clear to me) his knee was clearly down when the ball comes loose. Was there a challenge on this play? (i didnt watch the game) and if not why was there none?

second off, when mike sellers "fumbled the ball" on the goal line, was that not in? and second off, his forward progress had obviously been stopped so why was it ruled a fumble?

[dfitzo53]

I'm pretty sure Cooley did fumble. The second man hit him hard with a shoulder pad right to the ball.

Sellers wasn't in. As far as forward progress, I dunno. Seems they usually let that go for a second or two in case somebody gets in on a second effort. The bottom line is Sellers shouldn't have been reaching the ball out in that much traffic. (Not to mention that he shouldn't have been running the ball on the exact same play twice in a row.)

[NattyLight]

There were no officiating issues that I could clearly see in this game. What I did see however was some of the most atrocious play in quite some time from the Redskins. Especially line domination in favor of a team that's [now] 2-11-1.

[Hubbs]

The refs were the last thing that cost us this game.

[81artmonk]

cooley was a fumble. However, I don't know why there wasn't a penalty on the bengals for a helmet to helmet or leading with the helmet. The bengal player lowered his head and crowned him right in the facemask.

Sellers, was in. all the ball has to do is break the plane. before the ball was stripped it did, at least from what I saw.

before that, that was a TD also. He never touched the ground until he was over. He landed on a bengal, and flipped over, again not touching the ground and reached over. It was at that point that he finaly touched the ground.

I agree that we lost this game on our own, but there was help from the refs too

[Sean_Taylor_hero]

okay

well im just checking cuz in the highlights i watched, looked like cooley fumbled after on the ground

and im not blaming gthe refs

[mkiller12]

regardless whether the calls were right or not, thats Zorns job to challenge them and get them right.

[CRobi21]

Cooley was a fumble, unfortunately. Not challenged.

Mike never got in, unfortuantely.

And his forward motion was stopped, but then he remained on his feet and continued trying to move forward, unfortunately.

[Dance04]

Sellers was NOT in. The first time he clearly came up short. Second time he came up short, then tried to push the ball over the plane, but the LB knocked it out of his hands. Oh well.

[WhatOffense?]

It was the Bengals, this shouldn't even had been a game after halftime if the Redskins would have came in and did their job. We played horrible and Bengals made us pay for it, its not the first time we've lost to a lower quality team. Dare I bring the RAMS game back into the conversation.:doh:

[Thirtyfive2seven]

we lost the the Bungles. :doh:

Anyway, the calls were all good today so don't say anything about the refs.

[bu7ch]

Outside of the normal holding calls that are missed -- the missed PI call on Santana early on was horrible. Not only that but on the same play JC missed a streaking Randle El down the sidelines when Moss was in blanketed.

[HigSkin]

The only pitiful call I saw was that interference no-call on Moss. It wouldn't have been first down if he'd caught it anyway.

[warpathRUskinsfan]

Question about the Sellers call -

Why was it a touchback? Looked to me like the defender basically took the ball out of his hands; therefore, possession changed outside the endzone (given that the ball had yet to break the plane). The ball should have been placed at the one, right?

Was the ball loose or was it taken out of his hands? Maybe I'm just getting old and going blind . . .

[Koolblue13]

Those refs earned their pay checks today. That game was sloppy.

[hiswadeness]

I don'r believe you can challenge foreward progress when it concerns if a ball is fumbled. There are other times when you can challenge foreward progress, but this wasn't one of them.

[RODAN1054]

okay, first off, how on earth was that Cooley fumble ruled a fumble? from the replay I saw (which wasnt very thorough but it looked very clear to me) his knee was clearly down when the ball comes loose. Was there a challenge on this play? (i didnt watch the game) and if not why was there none?

second off, when mike sellers "fumbled the ball" on the goal line, was that not in? and second off, his forward progress had obviously been stopped so why was it ruled a fumble?

I think the rule should change. I feel if a player is down, he still needs to hold on to the ball

[Monkfan63]

If you need the refs help to beat a 1-11-1 team, you are in a world of hurt.

[RonJeremy]

Forward progress is marked AFTER a whistle is blown. Obviously, their was no whistle because 2 things that need to occur to kill the play didn't occur:

1) The player in possesion of the ball was being knocked back (that did occur)

2) The player in possesion of the ball needs to be CONTROLLED...in the officials opinion that DID NOT occur.

You have to have both elements in place before you blow the play dead. The control thing is why you see runners hit the line of scrimmage...they are stopped...but they bounce back and take off around the end. As an official you are taught to not kill a play until you are sure the player in possesion of the ball is controlled for that reason. Now the only exception is the QB...he is given a quicker whistle to protect him.

The PI no call on Moss was a blatant missed call. You can not go through the receiver to get the ball.

I am not sure what the original poster was watching on the Cooley fumble...he lost control of the ball before his knee hit the ground. It wass definitely a fumble and Zorn would have lost that challenge and a time out.

[bubba9497]

okay, first off, how on earth was that Cooley fumble ruled a fumble? from the replay I saw (which wasnt very thorough but it looked very clear to me) his knee was clearly down when the ball comes loose. Was there a challenge on this play? (i didnt watch the game) and if not why was there none?

second off, when mike sellers "fumbled the ball" on the goal line, was that not in? and second off, his forward progress had obviously been stopped so why was it ruled a fumble?

1. you are correct Cooley's left knee was down before being hit

2. Sellrs fumble my question was if the Cincy LB took the ball away in the end zone, then wouldn't it be a TD? once it breaks the plane it's not a fumble.... but if it didn't break the plane, shouldn't have the ball been placed inside the one instead of the 20?

the officiating was horrible on both sides, CJ un-sportsman like conduct? Portis fumble when he was clearly down, causing Cincy to use a challenge. Missed PI on Moss, Missed Horse Collar on Portis, Missed late hit out of bounds on Moss, instead a block in the back on Wilson, when he didn't

[DUPA]

I kept rewinding hoping to see a knee hit, but it was definitely a fumble.

The HORRIBLE REF calls were the:

NO CALL on the Pass Interference where the guy jumped all over Moss' back before the ball got there.

the Illegal Procedure call when they tried to say 6 men on the line. Fabini was definitely ON THE LINE!

there was more, but i am so pissed at the team, that i don't even care anymore!

[Bliz]

I am not sure what the original poster was watching on the Cooley fumble...he lost control of the ball before his knee hit the ground. It wass definitely a fumble and Zorn would have lost that challenge and a time out.

I thought it was close when they showed the replay in real time. It looked like his knee may have touched before he even took the big hit that caused the fumble. Was hoping for a slow-mo or freeze frame but didn't get it.

But obviously our guys upstairs looked at it. If it was at all close they would have challenged. They didn't, so I'm sure it was clearly a fumble.

[daklieb]

did i watch a different game... that cooley fumble was clearly not a fumble... his left knee was down before that ball even started to move... i watched it over and over again

oh and the BLATANT face mask on ARE where the defender was holding his head up by the face mask that was some BS!

[RonJeremy]

1. you are correct Cooley's left knee was down before being hit

2. Sellrs fumble my question was if the Cincy LB took the ball away in the end zone, then wouldn't it be a TD? once it breaks the plane it's not a fumble.... but if it didn't break the plane, shouldn't have the ball been placed inside the one instead of the 20?

the officiating was horrible on both sides, CJ un-sportsman like conduct? Portis fumble when he was clearly down, causing Cincy to use a challenge. Missed PI on Moss, Missed Horse Collar on Portis, Missed late hit out of bounds on Moss, instead a block in the back on Wilson, when he didn't

I would like to see another replay of the Cooley fumble. I don't have tivo/DVR so I am just going by the replays that I saw during the game. I haven't given them a second look...but I do remember looking at the intial replay and thinking...****, he did fumble.

What I saw on the Sellers fumble was the ball swatted out of his hand at the 1/4 yard line...and the defense player gain control of the ball in the end zone....thus a touchback...but admittly it was close....and there was a lot of bodies there.

Bottom line....the Skins should have never been in a situation where a close call makes a big difference.

The ones who should be pissed are the Ravens fan...they got hosed.

[Godfather151981]

It looked to me like Cooley's knee was on the ground before the ball came out. I can't necessarily fault the officials for missing that, but I do fault Jim Zorn for not throwing the red flag. I think that Sellers was in the endzone on both plays. Even if he never made it on the second one, my question is how long do the refs let the play go. Sometimes you see them whistle it dead immediately, and then sometimes they just let the players go until something happens, which in this case was a fumble.