"Ref"gate

This past weekend, the fans of the NFL were treated to the delightful tastes of the playoffs. Regardless if your team is in or out, if you love the game of football, you were watching those games being played out. Unfortunately for myself, I had to work on the weekends so I did not get to witness any of the playoff games. Well actually, I did get off and home in time to catch the 2nd half of the Dallas Cowboys/Detroit Lions game where it looked as though the Lions were rolling, and then suddenly, I saw Dallas begin their comeback. I then laid witness to what will probably be the most debated call of this year's playoffs from here on out.

So in case you were not watching or were not able to catch it, I shall do the honors of breaking it down for you: It's the 4th quarter, Detroit is up 20-17 with about 8:25 left in the game , and they have the ball with 3rd and 1 to go on the what appeared to be about the 45 yard line. The play begins and Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford dropped back to look for the open man. After about three or four seconds, Stafford threw to tight end Brandon Pettigrew at around the 30 yard line or so while he was being covered by Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens which eventually ended up being an incomplete pass. But the way the play looks, it seems as though Hitchens is possibly pushing Pettigrew down as the Lions' tight end is trying to catch the pass that is behind Hitchens that he does not see coming, which soon after is followed by a flag that was called as a defensive pass inference.

Now, after analyzing the footage myself very carefully and examining the photos on the story that you'll find, I have come to the conclusion that there was definitely a defensive pass inference penalty that should have stood against Hitchens as his arms are clearly extended and on Pettigrew in a pushing fashion. Not only that, but Hitchens head does not even move once to try and turn to look at the ball. Therefore, it's a pass interference. Case closed.

Yet the call did not stand as just minutes later (I did say minutes), the referee decided to pick up the flag to say that there was no penalty on the play. Now honestly, I get that it could have gone either way because Pettigrew does seem to somewhat attempt to grab at Anthony Hitchens' facemark. However, even with this call being picked up, why wasn't Dallas Cowboys' Pro Bowl wide receiver Dez Bryant not flagged after he had ran out on the field to argue the penalty call with the refs? Seriously, the guy is not out on the field at the moment nor does he even play defense. It should have been a personal foul for player misconduct on Bryant for that stupid move of his out there. Somehow though, the officials did not seem to mind that too much.

After the whole incident, Detroit took a penalty to give their punter room to try and down it behind the 20 only to see him shank the punt and give Dallas great field around about the 35 or 40 yard line. With great field position, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo took advantage of and lead Dallas to the game winning drive to win 24-20 over the Detroit Lions.

But from the moment the game was over, many began to suspect if whether or not the Lions had just been robbed of a chance to move on in the playoffs. But wait, it gets even better here. A couple of days later after the game, pictures and a video from TMZ.com appeared which in which showed the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones coming off the team party bus with Dean Blandino right behind him. Who is that you say? Oh he just happens to be the man that carry the title of the NFL's Vice President of Officiating. Yea, I said right. This is the NFL's VP of Officiating seen with Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones of the their party bus. Now I never try to jump to conclusions on matters such as this and these pictures and video were all taken back in August, but this is all seeming a little too connected in the dots.

I my own mind, the dots are connecting in this fashion: Jerry Jones invites Blandino onto his party bus to have a fun night out back a few months back, the Cowboys have a great season and make the playoffs, then the play happens in the game against the Lions where a flag is thrown for defensive pass interference and then is picked up minutes later while Dez Bryant, who ran out on the field to argue the call, was not hit with any personal foul for misconduct or anything of the sort, and Dallas eventually is victorious in the end.

The reason I say this is just that it looks too strange for me to just look past it and say, "It's in the past" but there isn't anything that can be done now. It's also worth mentioning that Detroit still could have won the game if they just would have given the ball to Joique Bell on the 4th and 1 to give them the first down. Instead, Lions' head coach Jim Caldwell made a poor decision in taking a penalty to allow his punter room to try and down it behind the 20 yard line. And if you watched the game like I was, then you were probably face palming yourself when you saw him shank the punt in order to give the Cowboys some good field position to make their comeback.

Regardless of the situation or whatever happened, I guess there is no sense dwelling on it. I just hope that the NFL will keep a watchful eye over Jerry Jones and Dallas for awhile as this is supposed "nothing" may have possibly been something or could potentially turn into something. This Sunday, Dallas Cowboys are headed to Green Bay to face off against the fearsome Packers. I'm sure many have heard that Packers' quarterback Aaron Rodgers is hurting right now from a calf injury. Now I hate the Packers with a passion, but I pray that Rodgers is healthy enough to play at a top level so that he can wipe that smirk off of Jones', Romo's, Murray's, and Bryant's faces. All in all, I see Green Bay beating Dallas 38-28.