Not a Steelers or Seattle fan and I'm not arguing about this call. But I had a question. Many who are upset about the call don't seem to be upset with the replay ruling, but rather with the initial ruling.
It seems like people are questioning the ref who delayed before calling TD. My question is, couldn't the ref have thought the following:
1. Big Ben did not cross the plane
2. Defender knocks ball loose from Big Ben
3. Big Ben completely regains possession with the ball over the plane, and is therefore a TD.
I thought maybe this was the cause for the delay (the ref realized Big Ben didn't move the ball much after he recovered it, and therefore ran up to make sure it was in) in ruling it a TD by the ref. Or does this not make sense?
It seems like people are questioning the ref who delayed before calling TD. My question is, couldn't the ref have thought the following:
1. Big Ben did not cross the plane
2. Defender knocks ball loose from Big Ben
3. Big Ben completely regains possession with the ball over the plane, and is therefore a TD.
I thought maybe this was the cause for the delay (the ref realized Big Ben didn't move the ball much after he recovered it, and therefore ran up to make sure it was in) in ruling it a TD by the ref. Or does this not make sense?