The NFL is admitting another officiating mistake in Sunday's game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that NFL VP of officiating Dean Blandino reviewed the fracas between the two teams following Clay Matthews' late hit, and determined that 49ers tackle Joe Staley should not have been penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. In other words, there never should have been offsetting penalties on Matthews and Staley in the first place. It should have been first-and-goal from the three-yard line. Head referee Bill Leavy also admitted after the game that he made a mistake in applying the offsetting penalties, which gave the 49ers an extra down. “His comments that he made (earlier in the week), that registered in my mind when I saw that hit, so I wanted to go over there and tell him that that wasn’t going to happen today,†Staley said. “I just grabbed him. We exchanged some words. It was heated, that entire exchange, so I think they felt obligated (to jump in). “It was just one of those things. Luckily, ‘Kap’ bailed us out (with) the touchdown.†"I watched it. Joe did exactly what we coach him to do,†coach Jim Harbaugh said. “When somebody’s taking a cheap shot or trying to do something after the whistle, we teach him to lock up. He did that and then Matthews throws two punches at him." Harbaugh added: “The officials had their explanation, and maybe saw some other things that I didn’t see, but yeah, I thought for it to even be offsetting, I didn’t see it that way from my vantage point.†Source: The Redzone
well I guess all the yelling and screaming I did yesterday during the game was not all in vain...I saw 2 swings from Matthews and none from Joe, wtf???
yep, it was not a penalty according to the rules. they allow the players to 'lock up' and jaw but once people start swinging, it becomes a penalty.
