Though we’re not sure that it matters because the Saints seemed determined to blow the Monday night game against the Vikings, referee Ed Hochuli and crew were caught in the middle of two more controversial calls. Both of them, in our view, were wrong. As to the first one, the officials made a clear error. In the second quarter, Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway did the “grabbed and pulled and hurt my neck in 1988" thing with Reggie Bush’s facemask, which should have drawn an immediate penalty. But no flags flew and Bush lost the ball while he was trying not to lose his head. Though Minnesota didn’t score any points on the ensuing drive, the right call would have given the Saints a first down inside the Vikings’ 20. The second call wasn’t as obvious, but Hochuli got it wrong nevertheless. With less than two minutes remaining in the half, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson appeared to fumble the ball. The Saints recovered, and put together a return that could have gone for six points, thanks to a lateral from Jon Vilma to Mike McKenzie. But the return was blown dead because the ruling on the field was that Peterson’s knee hit the ground before he fumbled. Replays showed Peterson losing the ball before being down. Hochuli emerged from the replay booth and explained that, although the ball was moving, it was still in Peterson’s hand. No fumble. This Tuck Rule-style argument makes no sense. The ball is either coming out or it isn’t. In Hochuli’s mind, the ball was moving and it eventually would come loose, but in the moment that Peterson’s knee hit the ground, he had temporarily regained control, only to lose it an instant later. Could it be that Hochuli felt compelled in the wake of the Week Two blunder in Denver to avoid the criticism that would have come from killing a play that could have resulted in a touchdown for the Saints? If Hochuli had concluded that Peterson had fumbled, the Saints would have gotten the ball at the spot Vilma recovered it, prompting the media and the fans to focus on the fact that, yet again, Hochuli’s crew got happy with the whistles and made a game-changing mistake. By finding that it wasn’t a fumble in the first place, Hochuli avoided any such questions. But we’re pretty sure that the Saints will be asking questions about both of these calls, and that we’ve got a feeling that we’ll only be seeing Hochuli in the postseason this year if he’s sitting in the stands.
HOCHULI’S CREW SCREWS UP A COUPLE MORE CALLS
Published October 7, 2008 05:37 AM