Jerry Jones: Hochuli a "Highly Criticized Official"

by kindablue on Sep 16, 2008 8:58 AM CDT Comment 14 comments

It's rare to have anyone in the league openly criticize an NFL official, but Jerry Jones did just that when commenting on the outrageous non-fumble call at the end of the Denver -San Diego game.

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/10978909

The referee of the game, Ed Hochuli, is widely respected as the best in the league. In a poll of NFL head coaches last year for the best referee, he tied with Mike Carey with the most votes. Most of us know Hochuli as the referee who provides clear and thorough explanations of the play calls, and prior to Sunday as someone who seldom blew calls.

Houchili is also head of the NFL Referees Association, which negotiated a sizable pay increase for referees back in 2001. Maybe Jerry was slamming Houchili for negotiating a better deal? Why else would he publicly slam such a respected figure?

Given some of the crazy calls and non-calls last night, maybe Jerry should have kept his mouth shut.

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huh?

overreact much?

What’s wrong with that statement?

"Popularity is fleeting. Principles are forever."
"Maybe congress should take more vacations, whenever these people leave town, things just seem to get better..." - Jay Leno

by Longhorn on Sep 16, 2008 9:18 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That's a statement of fact

Not an indictment of the man. He blew a crucial call, he admitted to it immediately, and he has been “highly critized” for it. I dont think it call takes anything away from the guy. We’re all human. Im quite frankly amazed they do as well as they do getting stuff right most of the time. The are trying to watch a large swath of the field most of the time while being aware of where they are in relationship to whats going on around them (especially the umpire) and still make split second decisions in realtime. They dont have the benefit of instant replay from multiple angles before making a call. The biggest failing on Sunday in Denver was not the Hochuli got the call wrong, it was that the rules didnt allow him to make it right.

The greatest two yard run ever!

by WB3forMB3 on Sep 16, 2008 9:41 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I understand that that he whistled the blow dead before realizing that it was actually a fumble

But wouldn’t he have gotten in less trouble if he reviewed the play and saw that it was clearly a fumble and ruled that it was SD’s ball? I mean the defender carried the ball out of bounds, so it would have been easy to see where to spot the ball. I figure it would have been a no harm no foul type of call, even though it is technically not following the letter of the rule. I just think that common sense and the need to to do the right thing should come into play.

"So you can’t stiff arm at all? What about the throat?"- Marion "Barbarian" Barber

by DC_fan on Sep 16, 2008 9:47 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sounds good

But you cant do that. By all accounts he got the ruling right. He screwed up and he admitted to it. But if he had bent the rules to try and make up for it the Broncos organization would have cried foul. The rules, no matter how flawed they may be at times, are there. Everyone has agreed to play by them. He did the only thing he could do.
That being said, the rule needs to be changed obviously. But its never going to be perfect. Lets say they had allowed the SD defenseman to recover it and he had returned it for a TD. The problem with that is, the whistle was blown and the players stopped playing. So even, if on review, it was clear that it was a fumble and that SD had recovered it, what do you do then? Do you allow the TD return since the call on the field was incorrect? Or do you disallow the TD because the whistle blew and the players quit playing? You cant undo the whistle blowing ends the play rule. There’s never going to be a perfect answer for all situations.

The greatest two yard run ever!

by WB3forMB3 on Sep 16, 2008 1:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree

I think there is an argument to be made that the current system is most fair, and given what the rules are, what happened in the SD-DEN game was the “correct” outcome. Still, there’s got to be a better way.

I don’t think formal rules will really work, however – I feel like the only thing you can do is have a general practice for refs of not blowing the whistle when a ball is loose. There are downsides (not a formal rule and refs will still make mistakes, players could get hurt fighting for the ball), but it leaves the opportunity for reversal and awarding possession (and doesn’t require a big rule change). I can’t think of a better solution that doesn’t involve players having to play after the whistle is blown.

by grapejoos on Sep 16, 2008 7:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You're Mistaken

About what Jones meant. He did not simply point out Houchili missed a call, which everyone understands; he was quoted as saying:

“That particular official gets a lot of criticism. He’s a highly criticized official in the NFL,” Jones said.

If he were talking about just one call, he would have said so. He would have said “He got a lot of criticism for that missed call”, not he “gets a lot of criticism”, which implies it has been going on for some time. If you read the article, the distinction should be clear.

So, he was in fact indicting him, and that’s what doesn’t make much sense.

by kindablue on Sep 16, 2008 10:07 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I agree

I read the comment the same way. Doesn’t seem smart of Jerry to go out of his way to rile up the officials, not that they need any extra motivation to penalize Dallas.

by grapejoos on Sep 16, 2008 10:26 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's probably because...

…Hochuli is against random drug testing for officials.

I mean, come on, he’s THE ONLY ref in the NFL that’s lifts weights religiously, and I’m sure that his physique raises suspicions that he might be on performance-enhancing drugs.

If the character of the head of the NFL Referees Association is called into question, it hurts the cause for negotiating a better deal.

Hmmm.

Just a theory…

"Jerry Jones offers more second chances than a tent revival." -- Kevin Sherrington, The Dallas Morning News

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by silverblue5 on Sep 16, 2008 10:52 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Didn't Know That

Interesting theory.

by kindablue on Sep 16, 2008 11:08 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You read into it whatever you want

But it’s still a statement of the facts. JJ didnt say, “I dont care for Hochuli”, or “Hochuli is a bad referee” or anything like that. He just stated facts, with the numbers to back him up.

The greatest two yard run ever!

by WB3forMB3 on Sep 16, 2008 1:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually It's Just His Opinion

And I’m not reading anything into it. It’s a common understanding of the use of tenses in verbs.

If it were truly a fact that Houchili is and has been a highly criticized referee, there would be some evidence to support it—not just one call. Until someone can show that, it’s just Jerry Jones’ opinion.

by kindablue on Sep 16, 2008 2:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

ESPN did a poll

during the offseason of head coaches, and if memory serves, not only was Hochuli one of the most liked refs, he was also one of the most critized refs. I realize that’s not conclusive, but it does provide some evidence.

The greatest two yard run ever!

by WB3forMB3 on Sep 16, 2008 9:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

what's the big deal?

highly criticized is no big deal – whether that criticism is justified or accurate he didn’t comment on did he? someone can be highly criticized but it doesn’t mean they don’t do a good job…

by Scoobay on Sep 16, 2008 11:06 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs