Opening The Door For Bias

You saw the play late in the fourth quarter of last week's NFL game between the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals. Giants QB Eli Manning threw a short completion to WR Victor Cruz in the left flat. Cruz stumbled, put his hand on the ground to steady his balance, then headed upfield to gain yardage.

But, Cruz again lost his footage. In the attempt to advance the ball and move the chains, he slipped and went to the ground. Not touched, Cruz let go of the ball, whereupon the Cardinals defense promptly scooped the ball up, which should have resulted in a victory for the Cardinals.

But, wait... The officials in the game ruled that Cruz had given himself up when he went to the ground, the play was dead at that point, and, with the ruling being a judgment call on the part of the officials, that ruling could not be challenged by Cardinals Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt.

This was a bad application of a bad rule. I understand that, desiring to keep the league's quarterbacks in serviceable condition, the NFL instituted the "slide rule" so that passers who take off running can give themselves up, without being landed on by a 350-pound defensive lineman. I get that. Also, any player has the right to give himself up. The usual ways this is done are by taking a knee, by calling for a fair catch, or covering a loose ball and not making any attempt to rise.

None of those situations applied to Victor Cruz. If he'd been giving himself up, he could have slid to the ground and covered up when he first stumbled, but he did not give up. He used his hand to re-balance himself. He was fighting to stay upright so that he could gain yardage. When he slipped and went to the ground, he should have covered the football and stayed still until he was touched by a defender or the whistle blew, ending the play. Instead, Cruz immediately rose, letting go of the pigskin. That should have made it the Cardinals' ball. If the officials were blowing their whistles as Cruz was rising, they shouldn't have been. He did not fall because he was giving himself up. He fell because he slipped trying to gain yardage. He may have made the decision to give himself up once he was on the ground, but that was not his intention in going to the ground.

Besides, a smart football player would never have taken a chance like that, jumping up and letting go of the ball without being touched, with the game on the line. You can bet that Cruz heard about his decision to not cover the football from Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin.

Again, I understand the NFL's desire to protect players and prevent injuries, but what happened in this game, really, was silly. Cruz needed to be touched by a defender, for the play to be considered over. He didn't have to be crushed by the defense. That's what unnecessary roughness penalties are for.

The most troubling aspect of of the whole play, to me, is the knowledge that if the situation were entirely reversed and it was a Cardinals player who let the ball go under the same circumstances, the Giants would have been awarded the football. The referee on the field that day would made an announcement that the Cardinals player had been trying to advance the ball in falling to the turf, hadn't been touched, and the ball was still live and recoverable by the Giants.

There really is an East Coast bias in the world of sports and in its coverage by the national media. Can you just imagine the furor that would have arose if the Giants had lost the football on the same type of call? Can you imagine the number of complaints the NFL's league office would have been flooded with? The sports bloggers in the Big Apple would have made out the NFL to be a laughing stock! You would have heard a mid-week announcement this week, that the officials had erred. The rule book would be changed after the season.

The NFL is on a very slippery slope, here. Leaving game-changing calls to the whims of the officials' collective judgment, opens the door for bias to make its presence felt. Ask yourself honestly if there is any way a call like this would have gone against the Giants or the New England Patriots, with a team like the Cardinals or the Jacksonville Jaguars getting the benefit of the doubt. In the NFL, that just doesn't happen.

The bottom line is that the Arizona Cardinals got jobbed in this game. Ken Whisenhunt may have taken the high road and said it shouldn't have come down to that play, but his team should have had the chance to run at least three more plays, run the clock down, and perhaps get a first down and win the game without the New York Giants seeing the ball again. As it was, the Giants wound up winning the football game. They should have had to earn it.