NFL VP of Officiating: Refs Missed Holding Penalty on Cowboys

NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino said on Monday that before this controversial no-call on Dallas’ Anthony Hitchens, the refs missed a blatant holding penalty on the Cowboys linebacker. Richard W. Rodriguez/AP

By Jeff Pini

January 5, 2015

2 minutes to read

Add one more person to the list of those who believe the officials missed a clear penalty in the Cowboys-Lions game on Sunday: Dean Blandino.

Appearing on NFL Network on Monday, the NFL’s Vice President of Officiating said that Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens should have been flagged for defensive holding after grabbing the jersey of Detroit’s Brandon Pettigrew, while he wishes the refs would have kept their initial call of pass interference instead of announcing it, then controversially picking up the flag.

“When you watch [the play] there is a jersey grab, and when you see the jersey grab before the ball is thrown, that’s defensive holding,’’ Blandino said. “So had the officials had recognized that, they should have had a foul down for that infraction.’’

The play was originally announced as defensive pass interference, with referee Pete Morelli later changing the call to no penalty. The flag would have given Detroit a first down around the Cowboys’ 30-yard line, but the Lions were instead forced to punt and come away with nothing.

“The official that threw the flag… it’s up to him to either pick up the flag or stay with it,’’ Blandino said. “He obviously took the information, he thought about it some more, and told the referee that he was going to pick up his flag.

“There’s a lot of conversation that goes on, but ultimately the official that throws the flag, he has to make up his mind, does he want to stay with it, or is he going to pick it up.’’

Trailing 20-17 with 8:10 to play in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys came back to score a touchdown to put them ahead 24-20, with the refs appearing to miss two separate holding calls on Dallas that gave Tony Romo enough time to find Terrance Williams for the go-ahead score.

Blandino also criticized the rush of the officials to announce the call after the flag was thrown, believing the crew should have huddled together to come to a decision, and the contradicting announcements further advanced the confusion.

“We would prefer that they get together before the initial announcement,’’ he said. “We can discuss it, make one announcement that there was no flag for defensive pass interference.’’