A Very Well Officiated Game

[Marko]

Just watched Edelman's catch, big time illegal contact which bumped him about 2 yards off his mark, that's why Tom's pass was tipped in the first place.

 

[GoBlue]

I agree. The refs did a good job. They let a few things go early and it appeared a few times instead of calling a penalty the ref talked to the player involved. Later in the game it appeared that the Falcons DB's though they could get away manhandling the Patriots receivers but the refs shut them down/ The holding against Long was a takedown.

 

[mosi]

Yeah, on the holding call, I remember being shocked that they would actually call a hold that late in the Super Bowl. Then I saw the replay of what happened to Long; if they didn't call holding there, it would have been a huge disgrace. Glad they did their jobs correctly in that instance.

Yes that was basically a choke hold and much more obvious than the hold in the Chiefs-Stigglers game. Also, on the hightower sack/fumble, Long was also held and had a facemask penalty as well that went uncalled.

 

[deters]

Only two bad calls imo, the jump block attempt and not calling personal foul for late hit on Edelman out of bounds on i think our first or second drive.

 

[GoBlue]

The jump should be a reviewable situation. And besides there were 2 refs looking at the play and could clearly see he didn't touch the center.
Yeah, Elelman was clearly out by 3 yds and i've seen it called many times. But after the way they called the whole game you could see the refs plans were not to be to intrusive.. Had it happened again they might have called it. Just like they let some of the Falcons DB's grab and hold for a while. Then they called it.

 

[archstanton543]

The jump should be a reviewable situation. And besides there were 2 refs looking at the play and could clearly see he didn't touch the center.

It wasn't about touching the center. They called him for lining up (and jumping) over the center.

 

[captain stone]

i believe if i lip read correctly BB yelled something like 'he lined up over the fu@$ing guard' after the call

I also saw him appear to say That's Bullsh!t to one of the sideline zebras after the penalty was called.
I find it interesting to consider how things could've been different had that play been called correctly, and/or had Gostkowski not missed one of the XPs…

p.s.: And major props to zebra #45. He was the first to indicate that both the Edelman catch was legit, and the Sweet Feet run was a TD. For those who have the game DVRed, take a look at how strongly he made the Catch and TD signals, as if there was no doubt whatsoever, when in fact there was, at least momentarily. He of course was proven to be absolutely and CLEARLY correct both times. Other zebras might've shied away from the spotlight and attempted to seek help from someone or anyone else; those two plays could've possibly become a needless controversy, and another one of those would've been the last thing this team needed. So, good on ya man.