Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Calls with Dean Blandino, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Welcome to Good Calls, Um, Dean Blandino.
Speaker 1: As always, I got my producer Travis Hanson. Hanson with
Speaker 1: an oh, not any it's the Swedish version on audio.
Speaker 1: The audio sounding crisp today, Joe Madrid audio guy here. Check.
Speaker 1: All right, we got a great show. We got so
Speaker 1: much to talk about, NFL, little college football, too much
Speaker 1: football to talk about. No guests this week. We'll bring
Speaker 1: a guest back next week. All right, let's get right
Speaker 1: into it. NFL another Thursday night tweet. This is becoming
Speaker 1: a little bit of a trend here. We started with
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, little lesser known person this Thursday night.
Speaker 1: But we have another tweet, Travis. What was the tweet?
Speaker 1: Charles Robinson, senior NFL writer for Yahoo said, NFL officials
Speaker 1: have gone rogue. This wasn't called on the field and
Speaker 1: then wasn't changed after it was flagged by the Giants.
Speaker 1: So they ruled twice that this wasn't defensive passing affairs,
Speaker 1: which is just blatantly wrong and a purposeful refusal of sorry,
Speaker 1: purpose will refusal to change the call all right, so
Speaker 1: we're talking about this was Thursday night football, and a
Speaker 1: lot of people were fired up about this. What are
Speaker 1: we talking about. We're talking about pasting inference routes. Obviously,
Speaker 1: so and and so the tweet was in reference to that,
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't go, Look, I know people are fired up.
Speaker 1: There was a call or a non call in the game.
Speaker 1: The Giants had the ball late. Uh, they were down
Speaker 1: by down still by fourteen I think at that point,
Speaker 1: and and there was a past to golden tate that
Speaker 1: was ruled incomplete. There was no flags on the field
Speaker 1: and and Pat Shermer challenge that it was past inference
Speaker 1: and the call in the field stood. Look it it
Speaker 1: was past an inference. It was it was llegal contact.
Speaker 1: First the defender, Jonathan Jones initiated contact beyond five and
Speaker 1: uh and Daniel Jones, the quarterback was still in the
Speaker 1: pocket with the football and then the balls in the air.
Speaker 1: There's contact. It It did, It did affect materially restrict
Speaker 1: takes ability to make a play on the ball. And
Speaker 1: it and it was pass inference, but it wasn't overturned,
Speaker 1: it wasn't created and replaying. I think this is part
Speaker 1: of the frustration that people are now voicing with this
Speaker 1: rule because if it is a foul, then why is
Speaker 1: replaying not changing it? And what we've seen and and
Speaker 1: we have not had a reversal in pass inference review
Speaker 1: since week three. Okay, so so we just we just
Speaker 1: completed what week six or we're we're finishing up week six.
Speaker 1: The bottom line is is the standard to overturn a
Speaker 1: past inference review is even higher than it is in
Speaker 1: other reviews. So we had several plays in the Houston,
Speaker 1: Kansas City. That's right, Houston Kansas City games. You plays
Speaker 1: in a row. All three involved Travis Kelsey. Two we're
Speaker 1: back to back where the first was no call on
Speaker 1: on Kelsey and it looked like there was some contact,
Speaker 1: may have been a pick and and Houston Bill O'Brien
Speaker 1: challenged that it was past inference and the call stood no,
Speaker 1: no foul created and replay. The next play, Kelsey was
Speaker 1: flagged for offensive past reference that looked like less of
Speaker 1: a foul than the one that wasn't called and uh,
Speaker 1: and there was no challenge on that. And then a
Speaker 1: little bit later in the second quarter, we had a
Speaker 1: we had a flag for d p I on an
Speaker 1: interception Pat Mahomestore was an interception. Kelsey gets mugged. There's
Speaker 1: a flag, and after discussion, the officials pick up the
Speaker 1: flag and they say, because the ball was in the
Speaker 1: air to another receiver, the contact on Kelsey was not
Speaker 1: pasting inference. And I agree with that statement that if
Speaker 1: the ball is in the air somewhere else and and
Speaker 1: this is not the intended receiver, and there is contact
Speaker 1: that would potentially be passed in France, it's not a
Speaker 1: foul because it doesn't prevent that player's ability to make
Speaker 1: a play in the ball. I still think it was close.
Speaker 1: I want to see the coaches copy. I still think
Speaker 1: it was real close to that contact happening with the
Speaker 1: ball still in Mahomes's hand, and if that was the case,
Speaker 1: it would be a defensive holding. But we're having all
Speaker 1: of these these conversations about this rule. Carolina Tampa, the
Speaker 1: London game, blatant push off early in the game on
Speaker 1: a on a Carolina reception Tampa and and and Bruce
Speaker 1: arians has won a couple of challenges early in the
Speaker 1: game early in the season, he didn't challenge. So I
Speaker 1: think what we're seeing is this standard is very high
Speaker 1: and the coaches are saying, unless it is something critical,
Speaker 1: a critical situation, we've done to the point where if
Speaker 1: it's not that play from the NFC Championship last year,
Speaker 1: we're not We're not going to change it. And so
Speaker 1: it has to be even above and beyond, because look
Speaker 1: the standard and replaced clear and obvious. It has to
Speaker 1: be clear and obvious that the call in the field
Speaker 1: is incorrect to change it. And that apply to anything
Speaker 1: that's reviewable, catch, no catch, fumbled down by contact or
Speaker 1: pass inference. But when you break it down and you
Speaker 1: look at the number of reviews and the percentage of
Speaker 1: reversals there there have been and these are unofficial numbers
Speaker 1: through through weeks six so far, a hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: seven replay reviews, fifty six reversals. If you if you
Speaker 1: now divide that into non p I reviews and p
Speaker 1: I reviews, okay, non p I reviews, A hundred and
Speaker 1: thirteen total, forty reverse that's forty three percent in terms
Speaker 1: of calls that are reversed. Darkly, that's more or less typically,
Speaker 1: you know, as as technology has gotten better, you know,
Speaker 1: before high definition it was less than thirty percent. High
Speaker 1: death comes in with all the camera angles that we have.
Speaker 1: Now we've been last couple of years, we've been between
Speaker 1: actually percent even higher in some instances. So that's right
Speaker 1: in that range. But when you take just pass an
Speaker 1: affair interviews, forty four reviews, seven reversal, sixteen percent reversed,
Speaker 1: so you've got really two different standards. You've got a
Speaker 1: clear and obvious standard that applies to catch, no catch,
Speaker 1: bumble down by rule, uh, down by contact, scoring plays
Speaker 1: and all that, and then you have a clear and
Speaker 1: obvious you have a really clear and obvious, I mean
Speaker 1: very clear, she likes you likes you standard in past
Speaker 1: a deference review. So all that said, and and and
Speaker 1: there was a play and look, we we saw a
Speaker 1: play in the in the Arizona Atlanta play that didn't
Speaker 1: involve past aferancee Christian Kirk. Did he fumble ruling on
Speaker 1: the field was down by contact, the ball came loose,
Speaker 1: Atlanta recovered in the in their own end zone. Atlanta
Speaker 1: challenge that it was a fumble. It was really close
Speaker 1: and it looked like his butt could have been down.
Speaker 1: Was the arm down? And they let that stand. That's
Speaker 1: a clear and obvious standard. Um. But again we're seeing
Speaker 1: a little bit of a different standard, even higher bar
Speaker 1: when it comes to passive And so I throw it
Speaker 1: throward to you guys, I mean our friends at the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions podcast. You know they tweeted something at us.
Speaker 1: What what are the fans thinking about this rule? You
Speaker 1: guys are fans, you watch games. What what do you think?
Speaker 1: I'll say, here's what the here's what the guys in
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions podcast said. Thanks for listening. I know
Speaker 1: they're big fans of Here's you're big fans of theirs.
Speaker 1: They're completely rewriting the p I rules in Minnesota at
Speaker 1: Dean Blandino needs some good calls on your show this week.
Speaker 1: We got tweet that, but that's not we are seeing
Speaker 1: that look and and fans. Fans are emotional. We see
Speaker 1: that the games sometimes from from a certain perspective and
Speaker 1: rose colored lenses sometimes as it pertains to our team.
Speaker 1: But this is this is widespread that there is frustration
Speaker 1: with this rule. So so what what do you It's
Speaker 1: gotta change. It's gotta change. It's if clear and obvious
Speaker 1: is the standard. It needs to be that way across
Speaker 1: the board, because what it seems like is we're only
Speaker 1: gonna overturn a p I call if it's egregious, right,
Speaker 1: if it's just Ram saying, so, if it's only gonna
Speaker 1: be put into play in you know, Championship playoff, NFC
Speaker 1: playoff game, don't even have it. So either do it
Speaker 1: and let the players adapt to clear and obvious, or
Speaker 1: don't do it at all because it's it's it's out
Speaker 1: of control. And I mean the Giants game was to
Speaker 1: me was was it was ridiculous. That was an obvious
Speaker 1: p I. Well, and the one that I that sticks
Speaker 1: out most to me is is the one in the
Speaker 1: London game on Sunday morning with Caroline and Tampa and
Speaker 1: a and a guy who has been successful you mentioned
Speaker 1: be a Bruce arians has challenge and one one these
Speaker 1: p I challenges he didn't even touch it. He didn't
Speaker 1: want to touch it. It's early in the game because
Speaker 1: he's going to risk losing a time out and a challenge.
Speaker 1: So so it's like, if it's not one of those
Speaker 1: plays like that, they're not gonna they're not gonna touch it.
Speaker 1: And and we've seen, you know, through at least up
Speaker 1: until this point in week six, we've seen I think
Speaker 1: only five past inferience reviews. So that's down compared to
Speaker 1: previous weeks. And yeah, and I would imagine, look, you're
Speaker 1: gonna save it's it's only gonna be that situation where
Speaker 1: we just have to challenge because this is so critical
Speaker 1: to the outcome of the game and beyond. And I'm
Speaker 1: saying this partially tongue in cheek, but I don't even
Speaker 1: know if the Saints rams play gets overturned right now,
Speaker 1: you know, because you, like you said, And here's the
Speaker 1: thing with replay, and this is why when you get
Speaker 1: into this subjective world, replay doesn't always work. When you
Speaker 1: talk about objective fact, the ball touching the ground, the
Speaker 1: knee touching the ground. It's I can say, look, it's
Speaker 1: clear and obvious the ball touched the ground. And and
Speaker 1: if the ball is on the ground, you guys can't
Speaker 1: argue with me. But if I say look, unless you're
Speaker 1: Cowboys fans, well then yeah, they they'll argue, well they
Speaker 1: want and look, I love you guys, love Cowboy fans.
Speaker 1: Keep listening to the show. But anyway, so but the
Speaker 1: thing is, now we say, oh my god, look there's contact.
Speaker 1: It's clear and obvious he contacted the receiver. But now
Speaker 1: what the league is saying, Yes, he did contact the receiver,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't clear and obvious that he significantly hindered
Speaker 1: his ability to make a play on the ball. That
Speaker 1: has now become the argument. And it's such a it's
Speaker 1: such a subjective call, and it's such a like a
Speaker 1: nebulous that's a S A T word right there. It's
Speaker 1: you know, it's such a nebulous thing. Where where I
Speaker 1: can sit there and I can argue with you all day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he contacted him, but it didn't affect his ability to
Speaker 1: make a play on the ball versus No, there's the
Speaker 1: ball on the ground. You can see it right exactly.
Speaker 1: And that's why replay is for objective facts. And when
Speaker 1: you enter this subjective world, replay doesn't always work. It's
Speaker 1: like a square peg in a round hole. I think
Speaker 1: you called it last week with the one and done
Speaker 1: desion the RJ Barrett. You know this is I I'm
Speaker 1: hard pressed to to think that the league is happy
Speaker 1: with the results so far, with with obviously with all
Speaker 1: the negativity, and there's always negativity about officiating. Look, when
Speaker 1: I was there, no nobody's perfect. When I was there,
Speaker 1: they were saying the officiating was horrible. So again, nobody's perfect.
Speaker 1: It's a hard game to officiate. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: I don't think the league could be very happy with
Speaker 1: the results so far, and so I would be hard
Speaker 1: pressed to imagine that this rule as is goes beyond
Speaker 1: this year. Now. Now, they could tweak it, they could
Speaker 1: change it a little bit. That's why you put it
Speaker 1: in for one year because you don't have to You
Speaker 1: don't have to in essence, vote it out. You don't
Speaker 1: have to have twenty four votes to get it out.
Speaker 1: You just but they have to revote to bring it
Speaker 1: back if exactly so. So to bring it back as is,
Speaker 1: you need twenty four clubs. To say exactly, you need
Speaker 1: twenty four clubs. And that's when we get into that process,
Speaker 1: that competition can be process that out the unintended consequences
Speaker 1: prior to the vote. Look at the video, have those conversations,
Speaker 1: have it all worked out. Then you go into the vote,
Speaker 1: have all the clubs on the same page, and then
Speaker 1: everybody can make an informed decision. And I don't know. Look,
Speaker 1: I wasn't involved in in in the in the process
Speaker 1: this year, obviously, but I don't know if that was
Speaker 1: the case with you know, with how it all went down.
Speaker 1: So that is our our past and inference segment of
Speaker 1: the week, and I would imagine we're gonna be talking
Speaker 1: about this the rest of the way. Let's uh, let's
Speaker 1: go to a break and we come back. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about the upset of the week. Travis is crying.
Speaker 1: I'm not crying. Crying yet I watched football differently then
Speaker 1: I'm not crying. You're crying. We'll be back on good calls.
Speaker 1: We're back on good calls. And you obviously can't see us,
Speaker 1: but I I are did such a good job with
Speaker 1: the with our theme music, like every we are all
Speaker 1: every time it comes on, I'm like Bob in my
Speaker 1: head dancing tweets Texas if you guys are dancing every
Speaker 1: time you hear and you start dancing as well, a
Speaker 1: little plan dancing? Can we talk about plan dancing? Can
Speaker 1: we get the plan dancing is a is a concept
Speaker 1: that it's white people and we are we are white people,
Speaker 1: the three of us here. White people love choreographed planned dances.
Speaker 1: When you give us the instructions. When you say white though,
Speaker 1: you mean like when I say it in this context,
Speaker 1: like someone who's not a great dancer normally correct, So
Speaker 1: so travel not a lot of talking. I want to
Speaker 1: dance contest in my lifetime. Well, hold on, it was
Speaker 1: fifth grade, so that you know, like early nineties casper y.
Speaker 1: I thought the first time I thought he was deaf.
Speaker 1: But it's okay. So but when you give us instructions,
Speaker 1: so so examples, right, we're talking about what are we
Speaker 1: talking about the macarena? When you give us, what are
Speaker 1: some other plans? Shuffle the electric slide. When you give
Speaker 1: us directions, we crush, crush it. Go to a wedding,
Speaker 1: go to a club, go if there is not that
Speaker 1: they played too much of that in the club. But
Speaker 1: if you go to a wedding and the white people
Speaker 1: are on the dance floor, and then if you come back,
Speaker 1: if you go, if you go plann dance song and
Speaker 1: then come back with like something a little more like
Speaker 1: like hip hop or a little more urban like it
Speaker 1: just clears clears out a Let let's move on Dallas.
Speaker 1: In the Jets, Big Upset, the Jets get their first win.
Speaker 1: Um gratulations to the Jets for Sam Donald's back, and
Speaker 1: obviously that had a lot to do with it with
Speaker 1: their with their quarterback of the future. But what I
Speaker 1: want to talk about is the fourth quarter. And there's
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of chatter about this on
Speaker 1: social media. Fourth quarter, right after the two minute warning,
Speaker 1: there was six consecutive plays with with fouls, six consecutive
Speaker 1: plays with penalties, and everyone was like, oh my, you know,
Speaker 1: six plays. Let him play the whole deal. And and
Speaker 1: I went back and I watched all six plays, and
Speaker 1: you can make a case that that the fouls are
Speaker 1: there on all six plays. I thought, look, there's there's
Speaker 1: a there's a defensive past inference on Cashman where where
Speaker 1: he there's contact with Ezekiel Elliott downfield. It's close, but
Speaker 1: you can make a case that he's early. And then
Speaker 1: there's one on Adams on Winton, which was the last
Speaker 1: of the six that was closed. Looked like there was
Speaker 1: some contact early. But even you know, Jim Nance and
Speaker 1: Tony Romo on the broadcast, Jim is saying, you know,
Speaker 1: can we have a p A without a penalty? And
Speaker 1: they show the replay of the Adams contact and on
Speaker 1: the same play, Leonard Williams buries his head into Dak
Speaker 1: Prescott's chest and they're like, and Jim Antonio like, whoa,
Speaker 1: that could have been a foul too. So in the
Speaker 1: same breath, we're complaining, not complaining, but we're saying, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, we've got a lot of penalties on these plays,
Speaker 1: but there could have been one more. And I just
Speaker 1: want to talk about. Listen, how important penalties and fouls
Speaker 1: are to the game and and what what penalties do
Speaker 1: is fouls basically ensure that the game is played fairly
Speaker 1: and safely. And if officials are not throwing flags, then
Speaker 1: you are allowing teams to gain an unfair advantage. Because
Speaker 1: if a team goes into a game and says we're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna hold, we're gonna grab, we're gonna make
Speaker 1: the officials call fouls, and if the officials then say,
Speaker 1: you know what, we're gonna let him play today, then
Speaker 1: that team has gained an advantage where the other team
Speaker 1: is saying, we're gonna play by the rules. We're gonna
Speaker 1: we're gonna play it, um, you know, to the to
Speaker 1: the letter of the rule. So you have to throw
Speaker 1: flags for penalties. And what's interesting about the numbers, Look,
Speaker 1: the numbers are up this year. There has been an uptick.
Speaker 1: We're over eighteen fouls per game. That's total that's accepted
Speaker 1: declined in offsetting fouls historically. The number when you talk
Speaker 1: about this the from nineties seventy five to two thousand five,
Speaker 1: which is the the that time frame, okay, is the
Speaker 1: thirty year period, which which basically the the explosive growth
Speaker 1: of the NFL during that time, becoming America's most popular sport.
Speaker 1: During that time, penalties were between fifteen and sixteen a game. Okay.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and six to two thousand thirteen, penalties dropped.
Speaker 1: Seven of those eight years, penalties dropped under fifteen a game,
Speaker 1: and the Competition committe Committee got together and said, we're
Speaker 1: letting too much go. We're letting too much contact downfield
Speaker 1: go go, and the game is getting more dangerous and
Speaker 1: the game is getting unfair to an extent where teams
Speaker 1: are gaining an advantage. So they put in points of
Speaker 1: emphasis in two thousand fourteen. I was at the league
Speaker 1: office at that time. We're gonna emphasize defensive holding, We're
Speaker 1: gonna emphasize the illegal contact. We're gonna emphasize illegal hands
Speaker 1: to the face. When you look at the the overall
Speaker 1: forty forty five year period from nineteen seventy five, we're
Speaker 1: still in that fifteen to sixteen penalty range. Think about
Speaker 1: all the penalties opportunities have been added into the rule
Speaker 1: books since nineteen seventy all the defenseless player protections that
Speaker 1: have been added, the player's safety fouls that have been added,
Speaker 1: all the rules changes. There are so many more opportunities
Speaker 1: to throw flags now than there. We're back then, and
Speaker 1: we're still in that fifteen to six and again uptick
Speaker 1: this year right now, but we're only through six weeks.
Speaker 1: Let's see where we are at the end of the year.
Speaker 1: We're in that fifteen to sixteen penalty range, which is
Speaker 1: incredible when you think about it, it's incredible. I think
Speaker 1: it speaks a lot to coaching as and what we've
Speaker 1: seen is that officials will will will try to correct behavior,
Speaker 1: and coaches and players adjust, and that's why you see
Speaker 1: over time these numbers stay pretty static when you talk
Speaker 1: about rules and fouls. One of the most influential and
Speaker 1: impactful rules changes in the history of the NFL was
Speaker 1: that was when the league implemented the current version of
Speaker 1: the illegal contact rule, the illegal contact rule in which
Speaker 1: is what the current rule is today. Basically said defenders
Speaker 1: can only contact an eligible receiver within five yards of
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage if the quarterbacks will still have
Speaker 1: the ball in the pocket. Prior to that, defenders you had,
Speaker 1: you had defensive backs like mel Blunt and these guys
Speaker 1: that were athletic and big. They were killing receivers off
Speaker 1: the line. You couldn't get into your break, you couldn't
Speaker 1: get into your route. The passing game was stifled. The
Speaker 1: passing numbers were down, points were down. That rule illegal
Speaker 1: contact opened up the passing game, allowed for more freedom
Speaker 1: and route running, allowed more downfield passing, more points, and
Speaker 1: you saw the league become as popular as it is
Speaker 1: today as one of the major contributing factors was that
Speaker 1: rule and opening up the passing game. And I think
Speaker 1: what we see today is now with points a game,
Speaker 1: we're breaking passing records. You know, every year we feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, completion percentage, passing yards per game, all of
Speaker 1: these things, touchdowns per game, those types of things. So
Speaker 1: penalties are important, and I think we we can't lose
Speaker 1: sight of that when we talk about you know, oh,
Speaker 1: there were six players in a row with fouls, Well,
Speaker 1: maybe there were six fouls on those six plays and
Speaker 1: and again, and teams will say, and I've talked to
Speaker 1: coaches and they've coached this way. We don't think officials
Speaker 1: will call fouls. They'll call they'll call it on one play,
Speaker 1: maybe they'll call it to plays in a row. We
Speaker 1: don't think they'll call it three, four or five five
Speaker 1: times in a row. So you're you pushing the envelope
Speaker 1: a little bit, like how much can we get away
Speaker 1: with it? Exactly? And then that that is how some
Speaker 1: coaches look at the game. And if officials don't throw flags,
Speaker 1: then those coaches gained an advantage, and the coaches that
Speaker 1: are playing it by the book, by the rules are
Speaker 1: the ones that are disadvantaged. So the one thing we
Speaker 1: overlook here, and we talked about this on Sunday morning,
Speaker 1: is these officials are really, really good and and I
Speaker 1: don't think people give them enough credit. We don't We
Speaker 1: don't hear it on our broadcast enough that these guys
Speaker 1: do a really good job. And you see it on Twitter,
Speaker 1: you get text from your friends. These refs are killing us.
Speaker 1: They're they're not they're they're they're calling it and they're
Speaker 1: doing it for the right reasons. That he just went
Speaker 1: over it's I saw a tweet. I don't know who
Speaker 1: it was, but I thought it was a great tweet
Speaker 1: when we talked about the quarterbacks and and and and
Speaker 1: the person said, they said, when I watched the game
Speaker 1: in the press box, I'm amazed at how a quarterback
Speaker 1: can miss a wide open receiver. I'm amazed when I
Speaker 1: go down on the field and watch it at at
Speaker 1: eye level, field level, I'm amazed that they ever complete
Speaker 1: a pass because the speed of the game and when
Speaker 1: and it's the and I thought about that, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, what's the same with officiating. When I watch
Speaker 1: a game on TV, I go, how the heck did
Speaker 1: they miss that? Right? How did they miss that? After
Speaker 1: I watched the third replaying slow motion from from the
Speaker 1: best angle possible that the official didn't have. And then
Speaker 1: and then when I've watched games on the field, I
Speaker 1: how the heck do they get anything right? I'm amazed.
Speaker 1: And that's where I think we lose sight of it.
Speaker 1: But you know what, the expectation right now is perfection.
Speaker 1: We have replay, we have technology. The game is so
Speaker 1: fast and there's so much riding on these games. And again,
Speaker 1: I get it, and and fans want these calls to
Speaker 1: be correct, but the reality is the NFL officials and
Speaker 1: officials across all sports are really really good at what
Speaker 1: they do. So so, Dean, is that a Is that
Speaker 1: a record? Six in a row? You know, that's a
Speaker 1: good question. I don't know if that's a record. It's
Speaker 1: a record this season, I don't think we've had a
Speaker 1: game where we've at six people are keeping. I'm sure
Speaker 1: somebody has it somewhere we could we could find it.
Speaker 1: I'm sort of quirky research or something like that. We'll
Speaker 1: have it quick being search raiders at the NFL record
Speaker 1: most in a game with by one team. That doesn't
Speaker 1: tell us to, doesn't he trying to set us up
Speaker 1: to shows how smart he was, But now and then
Speaker 1: he binged it. But anyway, all right, so let's go
Speaker 1: to talk talking of quirky research and quirky rules. Fair
Speaker 1: catch kick. We had to go all the way to
Speaker 1: London for the fair catch kick and it was amazing
Speaker 1: how many people on Twitter today we're tweeting at me like,
Speaker 1: what the heck just happened? What? What is that it?
Speaker 1: Please explain the rule to me. I've been watching football
Speaker 1: my entire life, and I've never seen it. Look, it's
Speaker 1: an NFL rule. You can't do it in college, you
Speaker 1: can't do it in high school. It's an NFL rule.
Speaker 1: And basically what the rule is is that if you
Speaker 1: complete a fair catch right so you signal and you
Speaker 1: complete that fair catch, then you are entitled to a
Speaker 1: fair catch kick from that spot, and you can elect
Speaker 1: to take that fair catch kick. And what a fair
Speaker 1: catch kick is it's just like a field goal attempt,
Speaker 1: but it looks like a kickoff, so you have you
Speaker 1: have you have a holder. You can't use a t
Speaker 1: so the balls on the ground, and you can, like
Speaker 1: a field goal attempt, you can have a holder. All
Speaker 1: the kicking team players are on the yard line that
Speaker 1: the ball was caught, so that's their restraining yacht line.
Speaker 1: Then ten yards from them is the defense return team.
Speaker 1: They're all on their restraining line. Same formation restrictions in
Speaker 1: terms of in terms of similar to a kickoff in
Speaker 1: terms of that restraining line. And you can kick the
Speaker 1: ball and if it goes through the uprights, you get
Speaker 1: three points. The clock starts once the ball is kicked.
Speaker 1: The ball can be returned just like a missed field goal,
Speaker 1: even a punt, you can return it for a touchdown.
Speaker 1: And if you miss it and there's time remaining on
Speaker 1: the clock and it's no good and it's not touched
Speaker 1: by the defense in the field of play, then it
Speaker 1: comes all the way back to the spot of the
Speaker 1: kick and the defense gets the ball there. So you
Speaker 1: don't see this like what twelve minutes to go in
Speaker 1: the second quarter. You're not gonna give up your possession
Speaker 1: and attempt, you know, because you want you think it's cool,
Speaker 1: You're gonna do it at the end of the half,
Speaker 1: which is what Carolina did today, Carolina Tampa in London
Speaker 1: and uh. And so it worked out because we know,
Speaker 1: like the the European fans love the kicking game. So
Speaker 1: it was just perfect for this fair catch kick to
Speaker 1: happen in London. And it was no good. It was
Speaker 1: a sixty yard attempt. It was had the distance, but
Speaker 1: it looked think it was wide wide wide, right. Um.
Speaker 1: The great thing about this is you don't have anyone
Speaker 1: like rushing to try to block it exactly exactly. You
Speaker 1: you pretty much have a free go. Um. They can't
Speaker 1: you know, the defense can't move from there with straining
Speaker 1: the line until the ball is kicked, and so you'd
Speaker 1: have to kick it pretty low for for them to
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to block it. Do you think every
Speaker 1: coach in the league knows that rule? I think they do.
Speaker 1: You know, I used to get astial teams coaches are
Speaker 1: are a very unique bunch, and they know. Of all
Speaker 1: the coaches, I've always said, and you go back and
Speaker 1: you look at the head coaches that that I've dealt with,
Speaker 1: usually the ones that have special teams backgrounds are are
Speaker 1: most in tune with the rules. And so special teams
Speaker 1: because the special teams coaches are coaching all side, they're
Speaker 1: they're coaching both offense and defense, and and obviously special
Speaker 1: teams in terms of you know what's happening, they have
Speaker 1: to they have to teach, you know, blocking, they have
Speaker 1: to teach you know, getting off blocks, all those things,
Speaker 1: rushing kicks, that type of thing, and so they're very,
Speaker 1: very in tune with the rules. So I would guarantee
Speaker 1: every special teams coach, and I would imagine every head
Speaker 1: coach unless they just came from college, would would would
Speaker 1: be pretty in tune with this rule. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: you know, you do a little research about this. The
Speaker 1: last time it happened in the NFL was two thousand
Speaker 1: thirteen and it was the forty Niners and the St.
Speaker 1: Louis Rams, the Rams who have um since moved to
Speaker 1: l A And it was Phil Dawson and it was
Speaker 1: a missed attempt. The last made kid, It was nineteen
Speaker 1: seventies six and it was Ray Worshing. Um, and I'm
Speaker 1: just doing a little looking it up here. Ray Worshing
Speaker 1: was the last successful kick. It was a forty five yarder,
Speaker 1: so that must have been a pretty bad punt. And
Speaker 1: it was a forty five yard or at the end
Speaker 1: of the first half. It put the Charges up twenty
Speaker 1: seven to ten. And that is the the the last
Speaker 1: successful NFL free kick. And then this is fun fun
Speaker 1: fact um. A couple of Paul Paul Hornick attempted ah
Speaker 1: and he actually made one in nineteen sixty four, Um,
Speaker 1: Green Band, Chicago, fifty two yard or at the end
Speaker 1: of the first half. But the very first one on record, Travis,
Speaker 1: when was it and who attempted? Well, I watched you
Speaker 1: can go on at NFL on Fox on Twitter and
Speaker 1: you can watch the video Dean did today explaining this.
Speaker 1: So I I cheated a little bit I I am
Speaker 1: the teacher's pet here I I saw it his ninety
Speaker 1: one and your friend Curly Lambo can I I nicknamed
Speaker 1: kicked the Lambeau leg nice the Lambeau legs. And now
Speaker 1: in there the company man right, So he so let
Speaker 1: Curly Lambeau obviously known for Lambeau Field, now he's known
Speaker 1: as the the inventor of the fair catch kick shifting
Speaker 1: gears a little bit. Two kicks. I do want to
Speaker 1: talk about this. I think this is an important topic
Speaker 1: and I think the league is going to have to
Speaker 1: really keep an eye on this on side kicks, and
Speaker 1: we talk a little bit about the changes to the
Speaker 1: kickoff and and and now where you have to have
Speaker 1: you have to have all of your kicking team players
Speaker 1: within the yard of the restraining line. You have to
Speaker 1: have both feet on the ground until the ball is
Speaker 1: kicked and there's no run up. It has made the
Speaker 1: onside kick very, very difficult to to complete successfully. Last
Speaker 1: year eight percent on expected on side kick eight percent
Speaker 1: um act of successful, and that compared to thirteen just
Speaker 1: over thirteen percent historically this year. Okay, and you tell
Speaker 1: me what percentage of expected on side kicks have been
Speaker 1: successful this year to date. Well, the fact that you're
Speaker 1: bringing it up, I'm gonna guess it's less than that. Eight.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say five, Joe, I don't think I've seen
Speaker 1: one can successfully done. I'd say two. Maybe I missed one.
Speaker 1: So right now to date we are over seventeen on
Speaker 1: on side kicks, so zero percent, zero percent of successful
Speaker 1: onside kicks and and on side kicks are very important
Speaker 1: to the game because we've alway, we've talked about marginal
Speaker 1: victory and the NFL wants close games. Nobody wants to
Speaker 1: look the games forty two to nothing. People are tuning
Speaker 1: out and the people are leaving the stadium. Nobody wants
Speaker 1: to watch that game. The onside kick allows the team
Speaker 1: that's down multiple scores in the fourth quarter to come back,
Speaker 1: even without time outs. It allows you to come back.
Speaker 1: And if you don't have a play that has any
Speaker 1: any realistic chance of being successful, you have now taken
Speaker 1: that away. And now we're gonna have games that that
Speaker 1: are no longer one possession games are no longer exciting
Speaker 1: at the end. So I think the league has to
Speaker 1: look at this and uh and really do something, really
Speaker 1: do something, um potentially drastic in the off season. Do
Speaker 1: you think you see the a F rule where you
Speaker 1: can go to like a fourth and fifteen or something.
Speaker 1: It's it's possible, you know, the the the a F,
Speaker 1: the Alliance of American Football, the ill fated um Professional
Speaker 1: League that in the spring last spring um I had
Speaker 1: a rule that it was basically a fourth and twelve
Speaker 1: from the twenty eight yard line, so you had to
Speaker 1: get a first down. And why they went fourth and
Speaker 1: twelve because fourth and twelve is a similar success rate
Speaker 1: to converting. That was similar to where the onset kick
Speaker 1: was in the NFL. And uh and so you want
Speaker 1: it to be you don't want an easy play. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you don't want it to be fifty percent, but you
Speaker 1: don't want it to be you know, two percent. You
Speaker 1: want something that has a realistic chance or at least
Speaker 1: you know, the famous Jim carryline. You're you're saying, there's
Speaker 1: a chance that might be something in the league has
Speaker 1: discussed that, the Competition Committee has discussed that in the past.
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people that feel like that is that that is gimmicky
Speaker 1: and it's going away from you know, the tradition and
Speaker 1: the and the normal you know, kicking game that special
Speaker 1: team's aspect. But look if this, if if we're at
Speaker 1: zero percent for two thousand nineteen at the end of
Speaker 1: the year, I think the league is gonna is gonna
Speaker 1: look at doing something. I don't know what yet, but
Speaker 1: I think zero percent is a an alarming number. It's
Speaker 1: only one year. You never want to again, small sample size,
Speaker 1: but zero percent would not be good. There was one
Speaker 1: in the Dallas game and they bounce off the guy's chest,
Speaker 1: then he bobbled it trying to pick it up, and
Speaker 1: the Cowboys still didn't get there. I don't know what
Speaker 1: that was. If it's due to where they have to
Speaker 1: line up. And it's a great question because you know,
Speaker 1: we we were talking about that play and if they
Speaker 1: had it even the five yard run up, are they
Speaker 1: are they art or two closer? And and does that
Speaker 1: Dallas player have the ability, you know, the Jet player
Speaker 1: have the ability to to pull that ball back in
Speaker 1: um versus you know, having a couple of kicking team
Speaker 1: players there and being able to was the reason for
Speaker 1: the change. Player safety, yeah, I mean the region. The
Speaker 1: reason was player safety. They you know, they didn't like
Speaker 1: you know, used to be you could run up, you
Speaker 1: could run up you wanted. I mean that that play,
Speaker 1: that onside kick play when I first started at the
Speaker 1: NFL was brutal, brutal and that was And and you
Speaker 1: talk to people that played the game and coach the game,
Speaker 1: you the most the bravest guys on the team were
Speaker 1: the guys on the hands team. And nobody wanted to
Speaker 1: go and play that and and be on that hands
Speaker 1: team because you were, in essence sitting there you had
Speaker 1: eleven ten minuster kicker. You know, um guys with a
Speaker 1: full head of steam basically just trying to clear you
Speaker 1: out to get their football exactly, braveheart. When when the
Speaker 1: English are coming down with the heavy horse and like,
Speaker 1: well you got no heavy arts, No army has never
Speaker 1: one in three years, and Mel Gibson's like, I wrote
Speaker 1: the script, watch what happens. We're gonna have long spears.
Speaker 1: Some men are longer than others. But anyway, okay, get
Speaker 1: me on a tangent, ladies and gentlemen. That was not scripted,
Speaker 1: all right. We had the conversation a couple of days
Speaker 1: on side script on side, script on side kick. Potentially
Speaker 1: something to look for in the in the future. Let's
Speaker 1: let's go to a break and when we come back
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk a little college football. I would
Speaker 1: have some fun ast other things too. Hell yeah, welcome back,
Speaker 1: good call, let's talk a little college football. You know,
Speaker 1: we're we're mainly an NFL show, but I think there
Speaker 1: was some interesting stuff in college football this past weekend
Speaker 1: and I want to talk about it. The head scratcher,
Speaker 1: the health scratcher. Head Scratcher called the weak Texas Tech Baylor.
Speaker 1: What a game, really exciting game this year. They're playing
Speaker 1: a little defense in the Big twelve, which which I like.
Speaker 1: And so the games in overtime, first possession of overtime,
Speaker 1: Baylor has the ball and uh, and we have a snap.
Speaker 1: The ball is on the ground. Texas Tech recovers, but
Speaker 1: the officials come in, throw a flag, kill the play
Speaker 1: and rule illegal snap and uh. And so it's interesting.
Speaker 1: The rule basically says, a legal snap is when the
Speaker 1: center takes the ball and in one continuous motion, okay,
Speaker 1: basically moves that ball in one continuous motion and it
Speaker 1: leaves his hand in that motion. And so typically when
Speaker 1: you see an illegal snap, it's like a it's a
Speaker 1: double clutch. They start the snap and stop it, or
Speaker 1: they snap it and leave it up against their their backside.
Speaker 1: But here this was not an illegal snap. This was
Speaker 1: one continuous motion. The ball left his hands. I don't
Speaker 1: know if he thought the quarterback was under center um,
Speaker 1: but anyway, ball came loose. Should have been text ball
Speaker 1: were an overtime first possession, Tech gets the ball. Look,
Speaker 1: we don't know what would have happened. Maybe they fumble
Speaker 1: on the next play, but I think they're there. Their
Speaker 1: odds of winning that game go way up when if
Speaker 1: they get that football in that situation. The Big twelve
Speaker 1: Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hokutt had had did confirm
Speaker 1: that the Big twelve admitted the mistake, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we don't know, we don't know what the ramifications are
Speaker 1: gonna be from from an officiating perspective, but but it
Speaker 1: was the incorrect call. Then the other the other player
Speaker 1: I want to talk about is USC Notre Dame. Really,
Speaker 1: I mean this is this was a good game, went
Speaker 1: down to the end. The Notre Dame is up thirty seven.
Speaker 1: USC just scores, They're gonna go for the onside kick.
Speaker 1: You know what we were talking about with the the
Speaker 1: NFL rule and uh, but Notre Dame had had eleven
Speaker 1: players on the field, but there was a twelfth person
Speaker 1: on the field when the ball was kicked, and that
Speaker 1: was head coach Brian Kelly. And this, to me, this
Speaker 1: is a problem more so in college football than it
Speaker 1: is in the NFL. And the NFL has done things
Speaker 1: to catail this. But in college football, the coaches are
Speaker 1: are on the field and it's become a problem. And
Speaker 1: and and the n c A has has made it
Speaker 1: a point of emphasis. They want officials to flag these coaches.
Speaker 1: But just like any other point of emphasis, it happens,
Speaker 1: and then it tends we tend to get lax on it.
Speaker 1: But Brian Kelly is on the field motioning for his
Speaker 1: players to move over, to shift over to the direction
Speaker 1: of the kick, and the ball is kicked and he's
Speaker 1: he's almost to the numbers. And so you wonder, you know,
Speaker 1: do do USC players who can see him, are they
Speaker 1: are they reacting? Do they stop? To me? At the
Speaker 1: very minimum, I think if the officials recognize that they
Speaker 1: kill it and and we basically redo it, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't think we penalize them, you know, fifteen yards
Speaker 1: or I mean that that you know, we give sideline warnings.
Speaker 1: Officials give sideline warnings in college, but you know, you
Speaker 1: can't be on the field during the play. And I know,
Speaker 1: and and sometimes look at the emotion. And that's why
Speaker 1: they have those get back coaches. And we see NFL
Speaker 1: coaches with guys that are responsible for keeping the head
Speaker 1: coach off the field because the head coach sometimes they
Speaker 1: don't even realize. And I'm sure coach Kelly didn't even
Speaker 1: realize how far out on the field he was. He
Speaker 1: at the moment, but great Asia song, but he can't
Speaker 1: be out on the field. And I think in a
Speaker 1: very minimum, you gotta shut it down, redo it and
Speaker 1: uh and make sure coaches off the field. But that
Speaker 1: was definitely something and and and look, when I was
Speaker 1: at the NFL, it was a it was a legitimate
Speaker 1: concern with the coaches coming from college and they're used
Speaker 1: to being able to be out on the field their
Speaker 1: staffs and now they're bringing their staffs and these coaches
Speaker 1: from college to NFL, and the NFL competition community was
Speaker 1: very was very adamant. And the direction to me when
Speaker 1: I was at the league office was we want the
Speaker 1: officials to make sure the coaches stay on the sideline.
Speaker 1: We don't we don't even want them huddling up with
Speaker 1: their players during breaks too far out onto the field.
Speaker 1: Let's keep it as close to the sideline as possible.
Speaker 1: And uh and I think that's something that uh that
Speaker 1: the the n c A needs to continue to look
Speaker 1: at and make sure that that doesn't happen again. I
Speaker 1: just want to throw I'm an audio guy, but if
Speaker 1: they need to keep to keep the coaches back, just
Speaker 1: put a good word and I'll hold him back. I'll
Speaker 1: make sure everyone's you're you're I'm available for a full
Speaker 1: time gig. Well, all right, during he's a he's a
Speaker 1: kind of a master of He's a he's a he's yeah,
Speaker 1: he's well, what's that that phrase I'm looking for, Like
Speaker 1: he's jack jack of all trades, but he's a master
Speaker 1: of none. But anyway, Um, that's college football. Let's shift
Speaker 1: gears and now we're gonna go into the segment that
Speaker 1: we have titled Inside the Brain of Blandino. But before
Speaker 1: we do that, I got another tweet that I want
Speaker 1: to share with the world, or however many listeners we have,
Speaker 1: who who who tweeted on on Sunday, and there was
Speaker 1: a little bit of a little bit of a miscommunication,
Speaker 1: there was. But I'm gonna have to bust you on
Speaker 1: this one because this goes against one of your rules
Speaker 1: of the show with no religions. But I feel like
Speaker 1: this is not We're not getting really into it's a
Speaker 1: religious figure. It's a religious it's a religious figure, but
Speaker 1: it's not about like any religious tweeted Pope Francis. Just
Speaker 1: just that statement alone. Pope Francis tweeted, could you imagine
Speaker 1: twenty years ago? So the Pope was I was on
Speaker 1: the Pope's Twitter account, and uh, and I know he
Speaker 1: retweeted that, he retweeted, he read tweeted the French bulldog
Speaker 1: that looked like Chucky, you know, that was running around
Speaker 1: with the It was so funny. The Pope has since
Speaker 1: the humor. But ahead, Travis, what was the tweet today?
Speaker 1: We give thanks to the Lord for hashtag new Saints.
Speaker 1: They walked by faith and now we invoke their intercession.
Speaker 1: So there were new So the Pope obviously was talking
Speaker 1: about saints in like the Mother Teresa mold and but
Speaker 1: with the hashtag and so and I just I even
Speaker 1: googled New Saints today, and it comes up with the
Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints, their record and their win today with
Speaker 1: and then and then you go to the second. The
Speaker 1: second thing on Google is Pope frances canonizes five New Saints,
Speaker 1: including John Henry Newman. So so when Pope Francis, and
Speaker 1: I know the Pope is running his own Twitter accounts,
Speaker 1: so when he when he did hashtag Saints, it came
Speaker 1: up the New Orleans Saints, and you even have the
Speaker 1: Florida lead and and the whole thing. So so to me,
Speaker 1: I want to see the video of somebody explaining the
Speaker 1: Pope Francis. Pope, this is Pope. You're never gonna believe this.
Speaker 1: You're never gonna believe what happened. You know the tweet
Speaker 1: you sent about the New Saints. Well, there's this American
Speaker 1: football team that's also called the Saints. There Drew Brees,
Speaker 1: the quarterback, Sean Payton's anyway, I want to be there
Speaker 1: for that. But I thought that was hilarious. But let's
Speaker 1: get inside the brain of Blendino. So if you haven't
Speaker 1: heard this before, I take notes on my phone. I
Speaker 1: used to do stand up comedy. If something strikes me
Speaker 1: as funny or interesting, I put it in my phone.
Speaker 1: I've got I don't know, Joe, thousands and thousands of
Speaker 1: entries over the last however many years. And what Joe
Speaker 1: does is Joe is now going he likes reads them
Speaker 1: in his spare time. But he's just gonna scroll down
Speaker 1: real quick, pick one, and then I have to explain it.
Speaker 1: I love this one so much I would already have
Speaker 1: done it. And I'm so excited. Okay, what do you got?
Speaker 1: What do you got? And this is complete random Every
Speaker 1: fourteen minutes someone finds love on e Harmony. There ain't
Speaker 1: that many happy people in the world, so exactly. So
Speaker 1: my point is, so i was watching the e Harmony
Speaker 1: commercials and I'm glad you came up with the harmony
Speaker 1: because if you've watched, if you've noticed the shift in
Speaker 1: the E Harmony advertising campaigns. E Harmony used to have
Speaker 1: the guy that used to come on, the guy that
Speaker 1: started it, the older guy and the old gray air
Speaker 1: guy with glasses, and he would say he E Harmony
Speaker 1: was kind of like the antithesis of like the others,
Speaker 1: like where where everything was like we're showing all these
Speaker 1: attractive people, and you can meet these attractive people if
Speaker 1: you come to our dating website. So the Harmony was like, look,
Speaker 1: looks aren't important. We try to match you up with
Speaker 1: your perfect mate based on you know, like common interests, music,
Speaker 1: all these things. And so it was it was less
Speaker 1: about looks and more about like actual can action. If
Speaker 1: you see an e Harmony commercial today, everyone is good looking.
Speaker 1: They still they still push the whole We're gonna connect
Speaker 1: you with your soul mate, but everyone is good looking.
Speaker 1: And so they've realized that basically attractive people sell product,
Speaker 1: they sell websites, all those things. Okay, anyway, thank you,
Speaker 1: I know sex sells. Anyway, Here's the thing, like I said,
Speaker 1: every four Joe, what did I say, ever someone finds happiness?
Speaker 1: And I walk around every day and I'm in southern
Speaker 1: California with the weather is amazing, and all I see
Speaker 1: is piste off people. Nobody is on the armony apparently,
Speaker 1: because every fourteen minutes they are not becoming happy, They're
Speaker 1: becoming more frustrated and more angry and uh. And so
Speaker 1: that's that's the thought of the day that I'm y today,
Speaker 1: join the harmony. You're you're single, you're out there, you're
Speaker 1: out there. Let's go to the d M of the week,
Speaker 1: and uh and this was a this was someone that
Speaker 1: d mned me and it's actually a positive DM and
Speaker 1: and I do get one in a hundred are positive.
Speaker 1: I could I could go to the get, I could
Speaker 1: go to the m or like getting an on site
Speaker 1: kick in the NFL. It is exactly Joe that was.
Speaker 1: That was solid right there. That may turn it up
Speaker 1: there there you go, audio guy. Okay, so it was.
Speaker 1: It was basically on all paraphrase this. Thank you for
Speaker 1: agreeing that Texas Tech fumble call was BS. It gives
Speaker 1: me a slight glimmer of happiness knowing your excellent mind
Speaker 1: agreed with that crappy call as we were all pissed
Speaker 1: about it. Genuinely, feel feels like a feel like that's
Speaker 1: a season changing call. Keep staying saucy Dean and then
Speaker 1: and then a second and then a second a second message. Also,
Speaker 1: keep this between you and I, but I think you're
Speaker 1: much better and cuter than Mike Pereira. So this I
Speaker 1: will read the when I'm when when I'm get to
Speaker 1: minute fifteen and I'm still not happy, I will pull
Speaker 1: that up and I will read that. It's it's like
Speaker 1: a it's like a it's it's a little glimmer of
Speaker 1: hope and a sea of crap that that is my
Speaker 1: Twitter page and uh and that thank you unknown fan.
Speaker 1: I'm not I will thank you for the d M
Speaker 1: of the week. Guys. That's the show. A lot of
Speaker 1: stuff to talk about, obviously it was. It was a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. I feel like we're we're, you know,
Speaker 1: hitting our stride a little bit. I do spend way
Speaker 1: too much time over three days to finally get I
Speaker 1: think we're I think we're I think we're in harmony.
Speaker 1: I think we're we're e harmony. By the way. That's
Speaker 1: the show. Good Calls with Dean Blandino. Make sure you
Speaker 1: check in next week and thanks for listening. M Yeah.
Speaker 1: Good Calls with Dean Blandino is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit
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