Post Game Analysis Opinion by Dave Stefano VikingsValhalla.com
That was one of the strangest games that the football god’s have wished on the Vikings.
It started with Tarvaris forgetting who to throw the ball to, and throwing it Fred “water covers 2/3rds of the planet, I cover the rest” Smoot was an omen that the gods were not pleased with the Purple.
The Redskins then tried to punch the ball into the endzone on a forth and a foot play. They had signaled the score when Brad Childress challenged the fact that the ball did indeed didn’t break the plane. The referee agreed that it didn’t and had 6 points removed from the board. The defense held giving the ball back to the offense to make amends. No damage was done, right?
The next play T-Jack hands off to our Pro Bowl fullback Tony Richardson and plows into the line to get the offense some separation from the goal line and some room to maneuver. Problem was that he doesn’t get the ball completely over the goal line and a safety is called.
Coach Gibbs could have sent his field goal kicking unit out to get the easy 3 points but instead gambled and was held back, just to have the Vikings give them 2 points and the ball back. That was all it took and with a Collins to Cooley touchdown strike it was 9-0. Taking the 3 and getting the ball back would have been better.
The first half continued on in the same mode, bad passes, the vaunted #1 running game being shut down with 8 in the box and exotic run blitzes and schemes, a fumble and another Jackson interception and it 22-0 going into the half.
In the third quarter, the Vikings passing game finally settles into a groove and we start advancing the football. Troy Williamson even catches passes. He kept back tracking behind the first down marker, but he did catch them. Things were looking much better and the Vikings had scored twice and had mounted a comeback effort.
T-Jack was getting into a rhythm and we were advancing down field with a passing game believe it or not. The Redskins were starting to loosen up the defense to help defend against it too. Things were looking good and the Vikings did look in the second half like a playoff caliber team.
Then the strangest sequence of events took place in the fourth quarter. Collins had just thrown a long strike to Santana Moss on the sideline where it appeared to be questionable whether he got both feet inbounds. Childress was looking up at the Jumbotron, red flag poised to fly as the Redskins hurried to get a snap (and spike) off to keep the play from being reviewed.
Collins fumbled the snap and Kevin Williams pounces on the ball. It was Vikings ball and more importantly Vikings momentum in full force. But wait…
Coach Gibbs throws his red flag, and challenges that there were 12 men on the field for the Vikes. How could challenge that? No penalty was called. Per Kevin Seifert of the Star Tribune, “yes, a team can challenge a play for which no penalty was called.”
Referee Bill Leavy saw that Spencer Johnson was a yard away from exiting the field giving the Vikings 12. Called the penalty, gave the ball back to the Redskins and advanced the spot of the ball by 5 yards, and said “no play”. Vikings fans everywhere were dumbfounded. You could here all of the air blow out of the Vikings and their fans like the rushing of air going out of the Metrodome doors into the cold snowing night.
Childress goes berserk on the sidelines and runs onto the field screaming. “Did we have 12 on? Yes. But [the Redskins] changed personnel, and the video's going to show that.” They did, and as the NFL has sent out in memo form as a point of emphasis, when an offense changes personnel, the defense must be allowed reasonable time to do the same. The rule was put into place for just that reason, that the offense cannot entrap the defense into a penalty.
“I just want to know what the rule is. Call it like you tell me.” Childress stated after the game.
The result was definitive and even though the Vikings did manage another scoring drive, the game was taken away from the players and decided by poor officiating.
"It cost a change in possession, and it cost momentum in a big football game, and it's damn disappointing when it's a point of emphasis [with the league]." Childress proclaimed.
The Vikings blew a chance to clinch a spot in the post season, and as it looks now, do you want to see them there after the play of the last two weeks. Elimination means a higher draft choice and more time to think about what is needed for the 2008 campaign.
Do the Vikings still have a chance? Yes, but it will take help in an unlikely manner and from an unlikely person. If the Redskins win next Sunday against the their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, who will come to town with the NFC #1 seed and home field advantage already wrapped up, resting their starters and nothing to play for, they are in. So that means Brad Johnson will be getting the majority, if not all of the playing time for the Cowboys, without an injured Terrell Owens and other starters that helped Dallas win the top spot. The Cowboys’ scrubs will have to win a meaningless game against a surging Washington team playing to get back into the playoffs. Possible? Yes, but unlikely.
At the same time the Vikings will travel to Denver to play a Broncos team that has already been eliminated. Denver in Denver is always tough, especially in the cold and snow but even more so when they are just playing for their pride.
The Vikings must do the same, and let the chips fall as the football gods want them in DC.
The Vikings had momentum. They were passing the ball successfully and making a comeback with the passing game the best that I have witnessed all season in the second half, when all of a sudden, the boys in stripes take control of the game in the Redskins' favor.
That had to be one of the strangest calls and sequence of events that I have ever seen in football. It effectively means that one team can call a penalty on the other without the officials throwing a yellow flag. As long as there was video proof, it can be done. It was to us last night.
How far will this go? Will the league address the poor decision by the referee that cost the Vikings the ball? Will the league revisit the fact that it does mean one team, in effect, can call a penalty on the other? Or will it mean, the expansion of the coaching staff to hire someone to look for these non-called penalties to challenge?
It is a shame that it looks as if last nights game was decided by the the officials and not the players.
We need a win and help from second stringers on the Cowboys for a chance to play in January. Without it, the draft and free agency will be the main topic here.
Re:Strange Call Costs Comeback Dec 24 2007 23:18:09
The NFL Rule:
If there is an offensive substitution after the offensive team has broken its huddle, the play clock will be stopped and the defense will be allowed an opportunity to match up. While in the process of a substitution or simulated substitution, the offense is prohibited from rushing quickly to the line of scrimmage and snapping the ball in an obvious attempt to cause a defensive foul (too many men on the field). If, in the judgement of the officials this occurs, the following procedure will apply: An official will stand over the ball until the referee deems that the defense has a reasonable time to complete its substitution. If a play takes place and a defensive foul for too many players on the field results, no penalty will be enforced against the defense. At this time, the referee will notify the head coach that any further use of this tactic will result in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty." The quick snap rule does not apply after the two-minute warning of either half or if there is not a substitution by the offensive team.
The ball should have been the Vikings and the Redskins warned about the unsportsmanlike conduct. Childress had the pictures to prove the substitution.
Re:Strange Call Costs Comeback Dec 24 2007 23:45:21
Well, it is looking to be did the Redskins substitute or not? Here is what Mike Florio at PFT has to say:
POSTED 3:02 p.m. EST; UPDATED 4:00 p.m. EST, December 24, 2007
SUBSTITUTION RULES NO SAFE HARBOR FOR VIKES, EITHER
In our most recent post, we explained that the officiating crew in Sunday night's game between the Redskins and the Vikings correctly used replay to determine that the Minnesota defense had twelve men on the field at the commencement of a key momentum-changing play in the game. (Scroll down for more.)
But now we're getting e-mails from readers arguing that the Vikings had 12 men on the field only because they were in the process of making a substitution. Under Rule 5, Section 2, Article 10, the umpire is require to stand over the ball until the referee deems that the defense has had a reasonable time to complete its substitutions.
However, this rule applies only when the offense has been a substitution. We've watched the video, and we've concluded that there were no substitutions made by Washington. Sure, the Redskins were using a different formation. But it was the same players.
So, again, the officials got it right.
POSTED 12:46 p.m. EST, December 24, 2007
REFS GOT IT RIGHT IN REDSKINS-VIKINGS GAME
Without question, the key moment in Sunday night's game between the Redskins and the Vikings came after the 'Skins fumbled a snap while trying to head off a replay challenge to a questionable call on a sideline catch by receiver Santana Moss.
The Vikings recovered at the Washington 47, and they were poised to cut deeper into a 25-point lead that had been chopped down to eleven.
But then Redskins coach Joe Gibbs threw the red flag, challenging whether the Vikings had 12 men on the field for the momentum-changing play. And so referee Bill Leavy visited the voting booth, and emerged with an agreement that Vikings defensive tackle Spencer Johnson didn't make it to the sideline before the ball was snapped. The Redskins regained possession, and five penalty yards were given to them.
(Since the play with the botched snap had never happened, Vikings coach Brad Childress apparently could have still challenged the Moss catch. However, the available replays on NBC seemed to suggest that Moss had one foot in bounds and dragged his other toe.)
We've received plenty of e-mails from unhappy Vikings fans asking how a penalty can be imposed retroactively through replay review. If, some have argued, replay is available to assess penalties that were missed, why can't it be used to spot a false start or an illegal shift or a neutral zone infraction?
These are all good questions, and we assumed that the answer was that the rules specifically permit the use of video replay to determine whether twelve men were on the field.
(The situation reminds us of the infamous 1995 game between the Steelers and the Vikings, when Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher jammed a photo into the pocket of the referee Gordon McCarter at halftime after line judge Ben Montgomery incorrectly counted twelve men on the field for the Steelers. Cowher, by the way, was right. Still, the league fined Cowher $7,500 for his conduct -- and Montgomery and McCarter were fined a game check each for their error.)
So we checked the rule book, and there it is. Under Rule 15, Section 9, part (c), item 5, one of the reviewable plays is: "Number of players on the field."
The refs got it right, and kudos to Joe Gibbs for knowing to exercise the challenge. His quick thinking more than makes up for the back-to-back time out thing against the Bills.
Re:Strange Call Costs Comeback Dec 26 2007 16:57:07
It's a stupid rule; I could understand that if the 12th player was in the huddle or even ENGAGED in the play; but they were not... they were 2 feet from the sidelines and the NFL always has that happen; weather they choose to toss the flag or not is up to the officials.
You see him every home game in the Metrodome normally riding a motorized something or grabbing a cheerleaders pom poms or harassing the apposing team... Yes we all know I’m talking about Ragnar…
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