How should the refs call the end of games?

[SWC75]

An issue has come up on talk radio about the holding call in the Kansas City- Pittsburgh NFL game, (I'm posting this to both the football and basketball boards because it's relevant to both sports). The argument some have made is "You could call holding on every play. The refs should 'let 'em play' at the end of games so the players can decide the game, not them."

Firstly, that was an obvious holding call. The lineman got beat and grabbed his guy around the throat and rode him to the ground. It's not something that happens on every play and if he hadn't held the guy, the defender would have arrived just as the pass was being thrown and probably would have prevented the two point conversion. Beyond that, I've always maintained that the refs should call the end of games the same way they called the rest of the game. If they don't they are allowing the teams to break the rules to win. You can decide a game by not blowing the whistle just as easily as by blowing the whistle. If there had been no call here, the Steelers would have been just as mad as the Chiefs and with more justification.

If you've already voted on the basketball board - as I did - don't vote here: I'll add them together tomorrow.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

An issue has come up on talk radio about the holding call in the Kansas City- Pittsburgh NFL game, (I'm posting this to both the football and basketball boards because it's relevant to both sports). The argument some have made is "You could call holding on every play. The refs should 'let 'em play' at the end of games so the players can decide the game, not them."

Firstly, that was an obvious holding call. The lineman got beat and grabbed his guy around the throat and rode him to the ground. It's not something that happens on every play and if he hadn't held the guy, the defender would have arrived just as the pass was being thrown and probably would have prevented the two point conversion. Beyond that, I've always maintained that the refs should call the end of games the same way they called the rest of the game. If they don't they are allowing the teams to break the rules to win. You can decide a game by not blowing the whistle just as easily as by blowing the whistle. If there had been no call here, the Steelers would have been just as mad as the Chiefs and with more justification.

If you've already voted on the basketball board - as I did - don't vote here: I'll add them together tomorrow.

I didn't even realize this was an issue. As you said, that was a blatant hold, and a take down of a player who would have disrupted that play. You have to make that call. KC players upset about it come off as whiners. You better believe if that had been reversed and a KC defender had a free shot on the QB before a blatant hold, they would have been crying the other way.