Was Miller held on Jones' 108-yard kickoff return?

[Upton]

San Francisco 49ers fans were prepared to start the manhunt for Super Bowl head referee Jerome Boger and his staff following the team's 34-31 loss to the Ravens. And while much and more has been made of non-calls like the fourth-and-goal pass to Michael Crabtree, there is another play that fans should be focusing on.

When Jacoby Jones returned the second half kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown, 49ers fullback Bruce Miller appeared to be occupied by two blockers, a situation that rarely draws a holding penalty. Further inspection reveals that No. 50 and No. 51 on the Ravens each latched on to 49ers' No. 49 for close to 35 yards of Jones' return.

http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/was-miller-held-jones-108-yard-kickoff-return

The answer as the pictures show is obviously yes...I 'm not going to claim this cost the 49ers the game, they still could have won, and they got away with a late hit out of bounds themselves..I do wonder if the NFL officials were under some kind of directive to swallow their whistles though..

[Angry Dragon]

1. yes

[Auggie]

2. My advice ...

let it go.

This game wasn't lost on any one play or by bad officiating. The coaching staff blew it.

[Upton]

4. I'm not blaming the officials for the loss..

I've already been over what I thought of the play calling on the final drive, but this was another missed call. In fact, there were only 2 penalties called on the Ravens all day. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I don't even remember a holding penalty called on either side. When is the last time you've seen that?

Jim Harbaugh: "A penalty is a penalty no matter when it occurs"..

[Auggie]

5. It was unusual,

as you point out.

[Upton]

6. Jason Whitlock's take..

Boger and Co. spent the entire evening trying to avoid throwing their flags. Baltimore cornerback Cary Williams shoved an official and should’ve been tossed from the game in the first half. There was no flag.

Two of the most physical and emotional teams in football collided on Sunday and there were just seven penalties all day. The refs called the obvious stuff — two for offside, one facemask, an illegal formation. There wasn’t one holding call all game and there was just one pass interference call.

The players were free to do whatever they wanted, and Baltimore certainly did at the end of the game.

We all hate it when the refs take over a game. But it’s just as bad when they let the players police themselves. The Super Bowl deserved better officiating. I blame Goodell.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/whitlock-truths-super-bowl-xlvii-jerome-boger-roger-goodell-referees-out-of-way-ray-lewis-jim-john-harbaugh-020413

Remember in the days leading up to the SB, many questioned how Boger's season long grades justified him even being chosen..

[trotsky]

3. Probably.

Were Ravens players held on other plays? Probably. As most announcers say, there's holding on just about every NFL play.

Them's the breaks. Niners lost, get over it.

[Upton]

7. I am over it..that only took about 24 hours

about the same as last year. Had the blues mixed with a touch of disbelief on Monday and that was about it.

Yeah, holding could be called on just about every play, but I'll ask you what I asked Auggie..when is the last time you've seen an NFL game without even one holding call?

[trotsky]

8. Hell that didn't take much Google-fu at all.

Here's an article from a couple of years ago talking about playoff penalties, among other things.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=6027672

Only six holding penalties have been called in eight playoff games. There were four games, including the Pats-Jets contest, in which no holding penalties were called. Penalties, in general, have been down during the playoffs, with 82 in eight games.

[Upton]

9. With those stats, maybe I should have specified regular season..

I have no objection to letting them play..I'd prefer it that way, but where's the consistency? If a play is a penalty during the regular season, it should also be one during the playoffs...

Such as the Cary Williams shoving of a ref which would have been an instant ejection in any other game..

[trotsky]

10. We've established that it's not unusual for a game to have zero holding penalties,

so you've shifted the goalposts. The Whiners got away with the late hit, the Ravens got away with the ref shove. Let it go, Upton. Your Whiners should have played better. Evil Harbaugh shouldn't have made such dumb decisions. Kaepernick shouldn't have wasted timeouts. All those things your team could control, and they f'ed up.

[Upton]

11. Evil Harbaugh?

That suggests there must be a Good Harbaugh..which I presume is John for you. Oh, you having the gall to call me biased, as you were doing last week, is some raging hypocrisy...pot meet kettle stuff. Now that's something that really is established.

[trotsky]

12. I'm not a fan of the Ravens.

I can't stand Ray Lewis, he's a sanctimonious asshole who by all accounts got away with murder. Literally. That was the worst part of seeing the Ravens win.

But John is clearly the classier and more mature of the Harbaugh boys. Sorry to be the one to break it to ya.

[ScreamingMeemie]

13. Did Jerry Rice fumble the ball in 1999 against the Packers in the

divisional playoffs?



YES

Did it cost the Packers the game? Hell yes. Game would have been over.

So we're even...sort of (but probably not because I still hate the 49ers... )

Also... in the minds of many (Packer fans anyway) it completely negates what was a spectacular pass to TO--after the fumble.

[RockaFowler]

14. This is a good example

Since I'm not a fan of the 49ers, I could care less if they were held at any point in the game. I'm also not a fan of the Ravens, so again I could care less if they were held at any point in the game.

There are missed calls all the time. It happens. It happened to your Packers during the Regular Season. Of course the Packers call was the worst call I have ever seen - another topic for another thread.

Both teams got away with a lot because the Refs were letting them play. And to be honest if that blackout wouldn't have happened it would have been a real quick game. It would have been nice to get to sleep before 10pm on a Super Bowl night!!

[Upton]

16. Wild Card game...and I don't blame Packers fans for being upset

Thing is, they shouldn't have allowed the TD pass to TO to begin with..they had plenty of other chances to win, it was their own fault. Sound familiar? It should because that's what I'm being told in this thread. It's all about perspective.

You know I don't like the Packers anymore than you appreciate the 49ers. I always root against them unless for strategic reasons I need them to beat a team to help the 49ers. Which reminds me, I was rooting for GB against Seattle in the game the replacement refs stole, but ultimately the bad call actually helped the 49ers right into the #2 seed...funny how things work out.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. Well thanks for that.

The rooting anyway at the time.

My point was illustrative of the fact that we all get the fun of having our team lose over calls that weren't made.
That said, the Packers fought for that win. Things suck. Refs make crapalicious calls.

On the positive side, aside from being happy for Jacoby (and Flacco a little bit) I hate the Ravens too.

[trumad]

15. Really a dumb OP

Isolate every play of the game and you'll probably find a hold.

Sounds like crybaby shit to me.

[Onceuponalife]

18. Upton, your waaaaaaambulance

is waiting outside your door.