Blown call exposes problems in the NFL

Ryan Plourde / Staff Writer / The USD Vista

The defense was bad; the offense wasn’t much better, and MVP running back LaDainian Tomlinson sat most of the game with an injured toe. Charger fans can’t deny the fact that San Diego looked less than stellar in their week two game against the Denver Broncos. Still the loss was a hard pill to swallow because despite their lackluster performance, the San Diego Chargers had still managed to do enough to win that game.

With a second half surge, the Chargers led the game 38-31 with time winding down in the fourth quarter. The Broncos managed to drive down to the San Diego goal line and faced a second and goal play with the game on the line. Bronco quarterback Jay Cutler took the snap and rolled right looking for an open receiver and miraculously fumbled on the 10 yard line while Charger linebacker Tim Dobbins fell on the ball to recover it for the Chargers. Game over, Chargers take over and kneel the ball to run out the clock and win the game; at least that’s what should have happened.

Unfortunately there was a mistake. Veteran referee Ed Hochuli blew his whistle upon Cutler’s release of the ball and ruled the play dead on an incomplete pass. Upon further review it was clear that Cutler had indeed fumbled the ball, however, under NFL rules the only thing that could be done was to place the ball on the 10 yard line, where the ball had fallen when the play was blown dead, and allow Denver to retain possession. The Broncos went on to score a touchdown and complete a two point conversion to beat the Chargers by a single point. This was a truly devastating result as the outcome of a game was decided not by the players but by the officials.

The mistakes made in this game are obvious and the blame must first fall on official Ed Hochuli. While Hochuli has gone on to admit his mistake and has even gone so far as to reply to countless e-mails from disappointed fans his costly whistle is, in the words of Chargers head coach Norv Turner, unacceptable. Not only did Hochuli make the mistake of ruling a fumble an incomplete pass, he made the mistake of interfering with the play in the first place. The modern game is run by replay. That means that on questionable plays, such as a dropped ball that may or may not be a fumble, it is the referee’s job to allow the play to continue and review the outcome afterwards to make sure that the correct call had been made. A fumble can be reviewed and over turned, while a play called dead by the referee’s whistle cannot. That means that even after review, and Hochuli’s realization that the play was indeed a fumble, the play could still not be over turned and ruled in favor of the Chargers. While Hochuli deserves respect for owning up to his mistake, he still cost the Chargers the game.