Michael Brown
Footballguy
Very obvious that ball was going forward. His arm is at the 38, then Hester touches it beyond that point. HESTER'S body is on the 38 and he has his arm in front of him. So unless there's some sort of funhouse mirror trick going on, his arm is ahead of the 38.
It brings up the issue of officials allowing these plays to go on "just in case". Everyone wants to see the play go through. That way, if the call on the field is wrong, they can be bailed out by challenges. But what about when a team runs out of challenges, even getting them all correct? It's just stupid. Either instruct them to call it properly as they see it (meaning don't give leeway to the defense and assume fumble), or give teams unlimited challenges when they win them. If a ref makes 5 awful calls, you should get to overturn all 5. I realize that doesn't apply here necessarily, just something that bothered me. These officials would have screwed it up no matter how many challenges they had.
It brings up the issue of officials allowing these plays to go on "just in case". Everyone wants to see the play go through. That way, if the call on the field is wrong, they can be bailed out by challenges. But what about when a team runs out of challenges, even getting them all correct? It's just stupid. Either instruct them to call it properly as they see it (meaning don't give leeway to the defense and assume fumble), or give teams unlimited challenges when they win them. If a ref makes 5 awful calls, you should get to overturn all 5. I realize that doesn't apply here necessarily, just something that bothered me. These officials would have screwed it up no matter how many challenges they had.
