The head of officiating claims the Cowboys “Got away with a Lucky One”
According to Dean Blandino, who was once seen on the Bus of owner Jerry Jones son stated that the clear penalty that Anthony Hitchens got away with was defensive holding: Hitchens grabbed Pettigrew’s jersey while Pettigrew was running his route, and Blandino said that should have been called. If it had been, it would have given the Lions an automatic first down.
Blandino said the pass interference penalty that one official flagged, only to get overruled by another official, was a “close call that could have went either way.” Blandino acknowledged that the officials should have done a better job of communicating, first among themselves so that they could get the call right, and then after referee Pete Morelli turned on his microphone to announce the penalty. Morelli first announced pass interference, then later announced that the pass interference penalty would not be enforced — but that second announcement was so hasty that the FOX broadcast missed it.
Although some observers have suggested that Pettigrew also should have been flagged for facemasking Hitchens, Blandino says that’s not the case.
“I felt that was minimal contact,” Blandino said of Pettigrew’s contact with Hitchens’s facemask.
This is bad news for football fans and especially Lions fans.
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