Another Dallas Cowboys playoff game, another explanation for a controversial call.
The Green Bay Packers downed the Cowboys 26-21 on Sunday in their divisional-round playoff matchup after a late fourth-quarter scoring chance was brought back. Wide receiver Dez Bryant seemed to make an incredible fourth-down catch at Green Bay’s 1-yard line, but it was ruled an incomplete pass after a Packers challenge.
Referee Gene Steratore explained the call after the game.
“Although the receiver is possessing the football, he must maintain possession of that football throughout the entire process of the catch,” Steratore said, via The Dallas Morning News. “In our judgement, he maintained possession but continued to fall and never had another act common to the game.
“We deemed that, by our judgement, to be the full process of the catch, and at the time he lands and the ball hits the ground, it comes loose as it hits the ground, which would make that incomplete; although he repossesses it, it does contact the ground when he reaches, so the repossession is irrelevant because it was ruled an incomplete pass when we had the ball hit the ground.”
When asked about Bryant’s elbow hitting the ground before the ball, Steratore added, “When you’re still going through the process of the catch, elbows or knees are irrelevant. He must complete that entire process with the football, maintain possession throughout.”
It’s hard to argue the call from Steratore’s standpoint, meaning this is one of those situations where the Cowboys missed their chance on a bad rule rather than a bad call. Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, for his part, took the noble way out after the game.
“Let me make it really clear: This game wasn’t about the officiating,” Garrett told reporters, per ESPN.com. “We had 60 minutes. We had an opportunity to come up here and win a football game, and at the end of the day, we didn’t get that job done. That play was big in the game, but there were other plays in the game, and unfortunately, we didn’t do the things necessary to win the ballgame.”
Thumbnail photo via Andrew Weber/USA TODAY Sports Images
