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The cries of game-rigging from Pittsburgh possibly have made referee Ed Hochuli a very happy man. Thanks to Scott Green and his crew, Hochuli was able to commit mistakes in relative anonymity.
And mistakes apparently were committed by Hochuli and company on Sunday, according to Ethan Skolnick of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
First, there was a phantom pass interefence call made against Jason Allen of the Dolphins on receiver Ashley Lelie of the Raiders. Writes Skolnick: “Allen wasn’t much closer to the sprawling receiver than to Lelie’s hometown in Hawaii.”
Then, as the Dolphins were driving for the a field goal near the end of the first half, Hochuli didn’t notice quarterback Chad Pennington’s attempt to take a time out . . . for six entire seconds.
Hochuli later apologized. (But hopefully not by e-mail.)
“I’ll have to come up and tackle him next time or something,” Pennington said after the game.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:22 am
This is the second time Hochuli has screwed the Phins this season, get rid of him
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Rating: 3.2 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Every crew misses calls in every game. If I recall correctly, the inexcusable, game-changing mistake of a no-call came in Week 2. Granted, it was all of those things, but it was also 2 months ago.
Could you please stop posting stories every time Ed Hochuli leaves his house?
As always, hail Florio, beater of long-dead horses.
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Rating: 3.35 / 5 with 11 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Hochuli is not having a good year, I am sure the microscope is on him ever since week two. I wonder if his crew will be doing any playoff games??
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Rating: 3.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Florio - Give the Hochuli watch a rest. He is just one of the refs that lead NFL officiating crews. You would be better served reporting on the grades/ratings for each crew each week. Or if you think you can do a better job then ask if you can ref or officiate a game. This dog don’t hunt anymore.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Heeey, here’s the near-weekly Hochuli-bashing article! I was wondering why it was so late in being posted today.
Seriously, get off it. Hochuli isn’t any different than any other ref in any sport- he’s human, he makes mistakes. Is it unfortunate when a mistaken call (or non-call) goes against your team? Yes. Does taht mean we should scrutinize the guy week after week like this? Absolutely not.
Totally ridiculous.
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Rating: 3.65 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:27 am
This is a pretty watered-down listing.
On the pass interference call, Hochuli cited #34, Jason Allen. Allen was nowhere near the play. Hochuli probably meant to cite #37, Yeremiah Bell, who WAS involved with the play. However, there was no pass interference on the play: no contact was made, no cut-off motion was made, and nothing was done that would qualify as defensive pass interference. Hochuli goofed twice on the same call!
Regarding Pennington’s call for a time out, Pennington called it with 11 seconds left on the clock. Hochuli originally let the clock expire to 0:00, but then had a change of heart and set the clock to… 0:03. How do you go from 11 seconds on the clock to 3 seconds on the clock, Ed?
NFL officiating is a joke.
Fire Mike Pereira.
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Rating: 3.65 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
I have been hoping for some sort of explanation on the pass interference call myself.
After the game I went back and watched that play over and over and:
A) It was clearly not a catch-able ball
B) Jason Allen was making a play on the ball, had position, and had a right to make a play on the ball
The whole time-out thing was annoying as hell. I sat there ans watched the clock tick away nearly wetting myself in the process and wondering why the hell the time-out was not being recognized.
Ed Hochuli has clearly not been on his game since he blew the call in San Diego.
I’d put Ed in time-out for a while.
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Rating: 4.2 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
FYI
The timeout miscue was at the end of the first half, not the end of the game. The Dolphins had completed a pass to midfield and Pennington was caling for a timeout with between 10 and 12 seconds left. If he was granted it then, then Miami would have had a chance to run another play to attempt to get in field goal range. Instead, with just 3 seconds left, they reduced to running a hail mary (they actually ran the ball instead).
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Rating: 4.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:55 am
The people on this site defending Hochuli obviuosly aren’t Dolphin fans. The first time his crew screwed the phins it cost them a sack and fumble that would have ended a game winning drive by the Texans!
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Why can’t the league just put out a notice to officials to call only BLATANT penalties? As it is now, the refs seem to be in competition to see who can call the subtlest fouls.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Hochuli’s lock of the week was a Charger-Raider parlay…
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Rating: 3.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
the pass interference call was actually targeting Bell (37), NOT jason allen (32), hochuli just mis-called the #. While i don’t think Bell committed pass interference though, its a moot point. that single penalty doubled the raiders’ entire offense output for the day and got them in range for a field goal.
hochuli’s crew screwed up some calls, but they didn’t affect the outcome of the game (thankfully), so we should just forget it and move on. phantom calls happen every week, we don’t need to highlight every one.
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Rating: 3.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I think this is a valid post, as the officiating has been embarassing. For those who are bashing Florio for his journalism: Why do you visit the site? I hate people that go out there way to go to a site, read an article, and complain about the author.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I would thoroughly enjoy watching Pennington attempt to tackle Hochuli
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
SaintFan - If Florio was posting about every ref and their crews then no one would say much about it. However, Florio has been posting about Hochuli every chance he gets - weekly or should it be weakly.
I know the refs and every official are graded each week, that would be more interesting than attacking just one ref.
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Rating: 3.65 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
No complaints about the officiating this year…it has been bad. I think that Hochuli has been catching a lot of it this year because many of us look at him as being one of the best (if not the best) in the league. I’m not sure of the rest of his crew, but there may be problems with them and how they see the game. Maybe the league needs to look at individual members of the officiating team and their selection process for new officials?
One other thing to point out - some have hinted that Hochuli has blown calls due to “owing money, etc…”. He’s a lawyer in Phoenix, and an officer of the court, so for him to conduct himself in that manner would not only cost him his job with the NFL, but as a lawyer.
I’ve said it before - If I was a player or coach in the NFL, and I had a choice of officials to call a game, Ed Hochuli would be at the top of the list.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
NYJets28 says:
“I would thoroughly enjoy watching Pennington attempt to tackle Hochuli”
Best post on the subject. Chad vs. Ed “Big Guns”… LOL!
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Every game I saw had terrible officiating and every time the people I was with said that “those refs are the worst.” They all suck, deal with it babies.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
“I’ll have to come up and tackle him next time or something,” Pennington said after the game.
Yeah, good luck with that Chad.
What’s with the Hochuli microscope? Are you going to report what he had for breakfest? How about if he’s a boxers or briefs kind of guy?
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
November 17th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
This site is rediculas, worst officaiting call all week was Palamalu play and you somehow turn it into another stupid Hochuli post.
Florio im starting to thing you have a man crush/ jealousy thing for Hochuli. Maybe your jealous of a lawyer who can officiate in the NFL while your stuck on your PFT blogger site making bogus and bias articles about Hochuli, John Gruden, and everything else under the moon.
As of today I give up on this site, I’ll choose to restort to ESPN and fansites for my football info.
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November 17th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I’m glad Florio keeps us updated on Hochuli. NFL officiating needs to be addressed and Hochuli is the perfect face to keep it in the news. If Florio keeps it a story, we’re one step closer to actually getting something done about it.
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