The big debate of the day. The Giant’s Victor Cruz fell down, then intentionally let go of the ball because he thought the play was over. However, having not been touched the Cardinals, he wasn’t actually down. The refs decided that he “gave himself up”, making the play dead, but that’s controversial.
The rule states:
An official shall declare the ball dead and the down ended… when a runner is out of bounds, or declares himself down by falling to the ground, or kneeling, and making no effort to advance.
It doesn’t seem that Cruz fell down intentionally, and he certainly didn’t kneel, so did he give himself up? Here’s a video of the play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1tokHtcvZo
What do you think? Did Jerome Boger and his crew make the right call?
When is the NFL going to hold bad referee’s accountable? This was an absurd call in a situation (2 minute offense) play should always continue until the player is touched down by contact. The referee #91 blew the call.
I immediately thought he gave himself up, but did know the rule, but agree with the on field ruling. He turned to see the defender closing in and jumped to the ground, got back up like he was no longer participating and left the ball there to be spotted.
Sonofanump mus be a Giants fan he fell you could see his leg go out to the side
He knew he slipped no whistle and let the ball go why in the hell would you jsut go down you would be tring to get all the yards you can when yo ure trying to win
you must be as blind as the umpires at that game he went down slipped (both teams had been slipping all day) then had a brain fart which the refs had his back in that call from now on when i guy slips oh well jsut let the ball lay there and all will be ok this isnt college ball player are paid good money to keep their minds on what is going on and it cost the Cards
Fail assumption on Paul. I care for no NFL team. He let the ball go due to time constraints. To let the ball be spotted. To get back to the huddle since they were in the hurry up offense. Comprehend?
Agreed Sonofanump. When he got up and dropped the ball, he had no further intention of trying to advance the ball, regardless of how he went to the ground (that part is irrelevant). He gave himself up to save time, leave the ball to be spotted, and hurry back to the huddle.
I’m a Bucs fan, so I had no bias in the outcome of the game. I’m also a football Referee and we have to officiate to both the letter of the rule and the spirit of the rule. It’s a delicate balance.
On a similar note, I like that Mike Carey overturned the Nate Burleson TD catch in the Lions/49ers game. The letter of the rule states it should have been incomplete, but almost everyone thought it was a TD catch and he seemed to be interfered with by the netting that was too close to the field of play. Good call by the Back Judge to rule it incomplete and a good call by the Referee to overturn it (funny how that happens).
According to Paul, what Cruz did was incomprehensible. According to the rules, it was a legal move and, as such, it was a savvy way to save the clock.
So we are left with the conclusion that a that a legal move that saves the clock is incomprehensible to Paul.
I’m OK with that.
No whistle ,live ball ,the first impression is the right one ,their paid good money to make the right call the first time,which they did ,.shame on reply.. If you trip that is not a form of giving yourself up,shame on the officials for not having a set
The ruling on the field was ‘down by contact.’
First off, a whistle does not kill a play. The play kills itself. Officials can go an entire game without blowing the whistle, except the Referee who has to blow the whistle to mark the ready for play on kick-offs and after authorized time-outs (for the 25-second clock).
When coaches tell players to “play to the whistle”, they are doing their players a disservice because the play is over when it’s over. Yes, a whistle definitely kills the play, but the play may be killed long before a whistle ever happens.
Wrong. A whistle does kill a play completely. I hope to god you are not a football official.
But a play doesn’t have to be killed by a whistle. Understand?
Bad call. But the Giants seem to get all the bad officiating in their favor… See super bowl XLII
Not to mention the phantom offensive pass interference call that killed Miami s last drive while they were leading… which basically prevented the giants losing the game. That s called changing the outcome of a game .