Ref says they got the call right
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| Photo from the Boston Herald |
"There were two officials that came in," Blakeman said. "One was the umpire and the other one was our side judge, and there was a discussion at that point as to the, in essence, the catchability of the ball due to its location. So it was determined at that point in time that when the primary contact occurred on the tight end that the ball, in essence, was coming in underthrown and in essence it was immediate at that point intercepted at the front end of the end zone. So there was a determination that, in essence, uncatchability, that the ball was intercepted at or about the same time the primary contact against the receiver occurred."
Here's my problem with what he had to say: The rule says if the ball was intercepted, than it's not catchable, but Rob Gronkowski was intentionally held back by Luke Kuelchy of the Panthers, so how did the refs not catch that? Well, they say the ball was intercepted at about the same time the contact occurred, but if you watch this Vine, posted by our own Mike Saver after the game last night, it's clear contact begins before the ball was intercepted.
Gronk said that he isn't making excuses for the loss, but I'm sure if he could see the replays, then he could see what the rest of the Patriots fans saw from their living rooms at home. Here's what Gronk had to say about the non-call:
“There was a flag, but it got called back,” Gronkowski said. “I don’t even know why they threw it. There’s just no excuse. I’m not trying to be here making excuses. They’re a good football team. They scored more points than us, and they beat us straight up.”
Look, the non-call wasn't the only reason we lost the game. There were plenty of problems on the defensive line, and the offensive line had some problems protecting Brady to begin with on that last drive. But, the non call was really frustrating.
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Source: Boston Herald
Twitter - @ConorJF1016, @PatriotsLife
