Changes Are In Order

If you know me, then you know that I wish nothing but misfortune for the San Diego Chargers. Despite this, I couldn't help but root for the Bolts at the end of their epic matchup with the Broncos yesterday. It's not because I want the Chargers to make me look good for picking them to be in the Super Bowl (I'd like nothing more than to be wrong about that). It's that they really deserved to win, and I can't imagine how much it would such to watch my own team lose that way (and this was week 2. Imagine if it were a playoff game!)

There were two moments in this game that I have serious problems with.

1) Chris Chambers makes a catch, his elbow hits the field, and then Champ Bailey strips the ball from him. The play is called a fumble. Denver ends up scoring on a 1 yard Michael Pittman run. TV replays clearly show that Chambers was down. San Diego challenges the play, but the replay equipment malfunctions. The turnover stands.

2) With time ticking away in the fourth quarter, and San Diego leading by 7, Jay Cutler fumbles, but the call on the field is an incomplete pass and the whistle is blown by the official. A San Diego player picks the ball up and is forced out of bounds. San Diego challenges the call of an incomplete pass, believing that Cutler fumbled. After reviewing the play, it is announced that Cutler did indeed fumble. However, because the official had blown the whistle when the ball hit the ground, it was a dead ball and the Broncos would keep it. Denver would score a TD and a two point conversion to win.

Now, to be fair, San Diego should have stopped Denver from scoring the TD and the two point conversion. They had a hard time stopping the Broncos aerial attack all day.

BUT, the NFL needs to look in to this game and make some changes for next season. First of all, there needs to be a way to review plays if the field equipment craps out. Maybe there should be a central headquarters where a phone call can be made and someone who is qualified can make the determination (I think baseball does something like this). You can't have instant replay if teams aren't always going to be able to challenge! Chambers was down, and if the replay equipment had worked, Denver would have 7 fewer points.

Second, the rule surrounding incomplete passes and fumbles needs to be altered for a situation like yesterday. "the defense forced a fumble, but since I thought it was an incomplete pass and blew the whistle, the offense keeps the ball" doesn't work. Norv Turner was furious after the game, and I don't blame him. I was pissed and I don't even like his team. The whole point of replay is to fix mistakes by the officials so that they can't decide the game. The way it's set up right now, the mistake was acknowledged but not fixed.

I wrote yesterday about the awful replay moment from the Fresno State/Wisconsin game. At the time, I thought that was as bad as it gets. I had no idea. This was far worse because it actually cost San Diego a win.

Please don't dismiss these issues. The Chargers should have won that game. Imagine if it were your team...in a playoff game.