Intentional Grounding??????

[Einstein's Dog]

Didn't see a thread on this.  How could they call that?   The ref purposefully called a terrible non-challengeable penalty.

 

It's one thing to miss/not throw a flag on something.  Like the tripping -even though it was on the person with the ball.  You can somewhat think they didn't see it or think from their vantage point it wasn't a penalty.

 

But Intentional Grounding - that really annoyed me.  Where did they see "imminent loss of yardage because of pressure".  The ref should never have made that call.  Josh wasn't throwing that ball because of pressure.  It was a terrible subjective call.

 

And with the broadcast you see the replay of the non-called tripping, followed up with the inexplicable bogus intentional grounding call was a double whammy.  The broadcasters saw the tripping and said a little something and kind of movedon/went silent.  Then the Intentional grounding and at least Collinsworth was like "what?".  Then the rules dork tried to make like it was definitely by the rules correct.  But the rule dork clearly left out the whole under duress element of call, dork.

 

It was very frustrating.

[Doc]

In almost every game you see at least 1 throw by a QB that is so far out of bounds that the WR has no chance at it, and no call. 

[zow2]

I had no idea about that call.  The rules guy insisted the only thing that mattered was where the ball landed.  nothing else. But i never see similar plays called ever.  Just like the finger point.  Never see that called.  I guess that crew doesn’t like Allen. 

What about the leg whip or slide tackle on Kincaid.  when is that ever NOT called.  Always strange crap in Bills games.

[TheWei44]

I was at the game and we're lining up for a FG attempt and then after what seemed like several minutes, we march 10 yards back and punt it.  I was like WTF?!?!  Without the benefit of the broadcast, I had no idea what was going on.  But think about when intentional grounding is typically called - The QB blatantly chucks it into the ground with no one even remotely close while under duress.  This was NOT that!!  It was miscommunication b/w 17 and 13 (very obviously) and no duress.  Huge headscratcher!

[Einstein's Dog]

7 minutes ago, TheWei44 said:

I was at the game and we're lining up for a FG attempt and then after what seemed like several minutes, we march 10 yards back and punt it.  I was like WTF?!?!  Without the benefit of the broadcast, I had no idea what was going on.  But think about when intentional grounding is typically called - The QB blatantly chucks it into the ground with no one even remotely close while under duress.  This was NOT that!!  It was miscommunication b/w 17 and 13 (very obviously) and no duress.  Huge headscratcher!

That's right, that added to it.  They were lining up for the FG attempt and then in kind of a delayed fashion came back.  I wish the other refs could have talked the one out of it.

As a Bills fan watching the broadcast of that sequence of events was extremely frustrating.

[NoSaint]

Herbert was more egregious there throwing the out when the receiver whipped in

 

honestly if I were McDermott I’d have been bordering on ejected after that call

16 minutes ago, zow2 said:

I had no idea about that call.  The rules guy insisted the only thing that mattered was where the ball landed.  nothing else. But i never see similar plays called ever.  Just like the finger point.  Never see that called.  I guess that crew doesn’t like Allen. 

What about the leg whip or slide tackle on Kincaid.  when is that ever NOT called.  Always strange crap in Bills games.

the finger point is the rule. You don’t get to celebrate towards an opponent like that. Tyreeks seen that flag, for instance.

 

the trip sucked but real time and weird angles - whatever. 
 

the grounding was the strangest call I can recall. It was calling a ticky tack and non obvious PI on a Hail Mary for instance. 

[Simon]

31 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

Didn't see a thread on this.  How could they call that?   The ref purposefully called a terrible non-challengeable penalty.

 

It's one thing to miss/not throw a flag on something.  Like the tripping -even though it was on the person with the ball.  You can somewhat think they didn't see it or think from their vantage point it wasn't a penalty.

 

But Intentional Grounding - that really annoyed me.  Where did they see "imminent loss of yardage because of pressure".  The ref should never have made that call.  Josh wasn't throwing that ball because of pressure.  It was a terrible subjective call.

 

And with the broadcast you see the replay of the non-called tripping, followed up with the inexplicable bogus intentional grounding call was a double whammy.  The broadcasters saw the tripping and said a little something and kind of movedon/went silent.  Then the Intentional grounding and at least Collinsworth was like "what?".  Then the rules dork tried to make like it was definitely by the rules correct.  But the rule dork clearly left out the whole under duress element of call, dork.

 

It was very frustrating.

 

Whoever stood by that call just hurt their chances of ever advancing in their profession ever again.

One of the most clueless and amateurish calls I've ever seen.

Example # 62,974 of modern NFL refs going out of their way to hunt for infractions that they didn't even actually see.

[Gugny]

3 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

Whoever stood by that call just hurt their chances of ever advancing in their profession ever again.

One of the most clueless and amateurish calls I've ever seen.

Example # 62,974 of modern NFL refs going out of their way to hunt for infractions that they didn't even actually see.

Look … don’t think that I’m trying to call you out in public or anything. 
 

But I’ve got 62,975 because of that bogus late hit call on Gronkowski’s hit on Tre White. 
 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Gugny

[Doc]

32 minutes ago, Doc said:

In almost every game you see at least 1 throw by a QB that is so far out of bounds that the WR has no chance at it, and no call. 

I say this and soon after Herbert does exactly this. No call.  

[Royale with Cheese]

So basically for every over thrown ball because of a miscommunication needs to be a penalty.  That's what the rule stated yesterday.

[BringBackFergy]

32 minutes ago, Doc said:

In almost every game you see at least 1 throw by a QB that is so far out of bounds that the WR has no chance at it, and no call. 

Yes. The refs have now created a dangerous precedent. If a WR has the option to cut the route short and the QB thinks he’s still running the route on the sideline, if the WR does, in fact, stop, the ball will obviously be far away from the WR to call this again. That happens 100x a season. Miscommunication. What an absolute chit call. Will never be duplicated again. (Just like “Give it to him”, Houston end zone fumble/fair catch, etc etc etc. ) 

[Mark Vader]

I have seen that play happen many times. Never in my life have I ever seen that play called intentional grounding.

[Freddie's Dead]

Can't wait for another "We screwed up Buffalo, sorry" letter from the NFL.

[Einstein's Dog]

17 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

honestly if I were McDermott I’d have been bordering on ejected after that call

the finger point is the rule. You don’t get to celebrate towards an opponent like that. Tyreeks seen that flag, for instance.

 

the trip sucked but real time and weird angles - whatever. 
 

the grounding was the strangest call I can recall. It was calling a ticky tack and non obvious PI on a Hail Mary for instance. 

Tyreek was using the peace sign and then it was being used by the defense and the league didn't like it.  So the peace sign, much like "the finger" would be understood to be flagged.

 

However, a finger point is not the rule.  You routinely see linemen point at the line of scrimmage blocking assignments and no flags.  The ref determined intent, and it was a rinky-dink, unnecessary call (very easily could have given a discreet warning).

 

For me, there was the larger point of cumulative BS.  The unnecessary finger point call, the uncalled tripping, and then the out of ordinary Intentional grounding call.

 

But a finger point can mean more than a taunt - as it is with the O linemen.  The action he did was not by rule a flag, the ref had to interpret intent and think Josh was taunting instead of identifying a player that needs to be blocked.

[vincec]

It’s a classic example of the refs not enforcing the intent of the rule. Intentional grounding is a penalty to prevent the QB from avoiding a sack by intentionally throwing the ball away (although this is ok if he’s outside the pocket for some reason, but I digress…). Allen was obviously not doing that.

[Einstein's Dog]

25 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

So basically for every over thrown ball because of a miscommunication needs to be a penalty.  That's what the rule stated yesterday.

I think the rules dork messed up and didn't even bring up the "imminent loss of yardage because of pressure".  To me, It seemed like a convenient overlook of the rule so they didn't go back and look at the lack of pressure on Josh on that call.

[NoSaint]

11 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

Tyreek was using the peace sign and then it was being used by the defense and the league didn't like it.  So the peace sign, much like "the finger" would be understood to be flagged.

 

However, a finger point is not the rule.  You routinely see linemen point at the line of scrimmage blocking assignments and no flags.  The ref determined intent, and it was a rinky-dink, unnecessary call (very easily could have given a discreet warning).

 

For me, there was the larger point of cumulative BS.  The unnecessary finger point call, the uncalled tripping, and then the out of ordinary Intentional grounding call.

 

But a finger point can mean more than a taunt - as it is with the O linemen.  The action he did was not by rule a flag, the ref had to interpret intent and think Josh was taunting instead of identifying a player that needs to be blocked.

he was past the player and waltzing into the end zone untouched. On this one you a wrong. It’s a silly line in the sand when a whole team can do a choreographed celebration inches from the defender but pointing to him was definitionally the rule.

[Orlando Buffalo]

36 minutes ago, BringBackFergy said:

Yes. The refs have now created a dangerous precedent. If a WR has the option to cut the route short and the QB thinks he’s still running the route on the sideline, if the WR does, in fact, stop, the ball will obviously be far away from the WR to call this again. That happens 100x a season. Miscommunication. What an absolute chit call. Will never be duplicated again. (Just like “Give it to him”, Houston end zone fumble/fair catch, etc etc etc. ) 

You seem to think the league cares about consistency and precedence. The NFL does not care about either so long as product is compelling. My wife is starting to watch football since my son is a freshman at FSU this year and she watches the Bills and has stopped trying to get clarification from me on why anything is called because she understands the rules but does not see any standards.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Terrible call. It wasn’t intentional grounding, it was a qb and wr reading defense differently. 
 

 

[phypon]

I remember a game many, many, years ago.  I forget who they were playing.  kelly threw the ball away through the endzone (a typical play) and got called for intentional grounding.  A play like that was par for the course, happens all the time, and still happens.  That call last night was ridiculous.  It looked more like the receiver took the option and stopped on his route.  The ball landed in bounds for crying out loud!  It was not even an intentional overthrow to kill the play, it was a bad read/miscommunication!

 

As others have said, refs have been brutal this year.  They really have influenced games in what seems to be more frequent this year than in years past, and not just for the Bills.  They are out of control.