NFL VP of officiating Dean Blandino visited Cowboys to clarify Dez Bryant call
NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino paid a visit to the Dallas Cowboys this summer, and this time around it wasn’t for the purpose of partying with coeds outside a Los Angeles nightclub. Instead, the topic of conversation centered on Dez Bryant’s controversial no-catch.
If you’re outside the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, there’s a chance you forgot about the season-ending play, so we’ll refresh your memory. Trailing 26-21 on fourth-and-2 from Green Bay’s 32 with 4:42 remaining in the NFC divisional playoff round, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo appeared to find a streaking Bryant down the left sideline for a spectacular circus catch that set up a first-and-goal.
Except, Packers coach Mike McCarthy’s challenge and the Calvin Johnson Rule ultimately reversed the original call and essentially ended the Cowboys’ season. By the letter of the law, Bryant did not maintain control of the ball throughout the catch, despite taking multiple steps before the ground knocked the ball loose, and Green Bay milked the clock on its ensuing possession to move onto the NFC title game.
As controversy raged over the call, Blandino explained the officiating crew’s decision on Twitter.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Blandino met with the Cowboys this offseason — including “lengthy discussions” with Cowboys vice president and NFL competition committee member Stephen Jones — to clarify the league’s stance on the play that cost Dallas a chance at the Super Bowl.
“Not a catch,” Blandino said Friday at the NFL officiating clinic in Irving. “We went through that process with the committee. Didn’t change the rule. Tried to clarify it. We really feel that the way the rule is written now, the way it’s being applied, allows us to be as consistent as possible.”
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“The message to the coaches and players — because we’ve gone out and visited with every staff — is if you’re falling to the ground to make the catch, then you have to maintain the control when you land,” Blandino said. “And if you reach or do anything with the football, that’s not going to trump that requirement to maintain control.”
Blandino told the Star-Telegram he does not always address such matters in person with every team, but, “I wanted to make sure that I was in Dallas this year, because obviously it was a controversial play.”
You may recall Blandino and Jones also found themselves embroiled in controversy last summer, when a TMZ video showed them hanging out with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (Stephen’s father) on a bus parked along L.A.’s Sunset Strip — a perceived conflict of interest that many teams took umbrage with.
Now, if only Blandino and Jones would drive the party bus to New England, pick up NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Patriots owner Robert Kraft and embark on a traveling controversy tour this summer.
