Green Bay v. Chicago punt return holding call

[Getting Fat]

Anybody have any video of Hester's return that was called back?  I've been told by non-officials that the holding call was terrible, but havent seen the video.

[stevegarbs]

   I  was wondering the same thing- thanks for posting the question.  At a minimum, I am stunned that a hold on the complete opposite side of the field from the ball/point of attack was thrown.  I did watch the game (suffering Bears fan) but did not get a good look at the actual hold other than it was across the field.

I also had some doubts about a non-call on a potential DPI earlier in the game- Woodson lost his balance while covering Hester, got in front of Hester and knocked him down.  It was not a classic of feet tangling while both were looking for the ball.  Does anyone know if the NFL posts any kind of summary on calls?  do they still have the weekly show where they answer officiating questions, or did that go away when Pereira left?

[mbyron]

The video is below, though you can't see much (and certainly not the hold).

I can't tell whether Hester signaled for a fair catch (Buck says he did), but I look forward to explaining to a coach in a HS game why this doesn't work in a NFHS game.

http://youtu.be/boxsgqBoXiQ

[Osric Pureheart]

There's another Youtube video that claims to have identified a hold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiFiaM4HDpM

[APG]

For the video I've seen, the contact that could be considered a hold was during the kick...it was on the left gunner very early in the kick. If that was the hold that was indeed what the flag was for, then they enforced the penalty wrong as they should have enforced half the distance from the end of the kick. In reality, it was announced as a penalty enforced during the run with the enforcement from the 20 yard line.

As far as Hester signaling a fair catch, he did not do so.

[TxSkyBolt]

That doesn't appear like it could be the hold as the flag was dropped inside the 20 yard line.

[APG]

That doesn't appear like it could be the hold as the flag was dropped inside the 20 yard line.

Well, the flag was around the 18, but looking back at the official play-by-play, the penalty was enforced from the 20 and the drive started at the 10. I honestly think that the flag was for a hold on a gunner early in the play. That's the only conceivable contact that I've seen that could have been penalized as a hold. And if that was the penalty, then the enforcement was wrong and should have been 1st and 10 from the 5.5 yard line.

[InsideTheStripes]

I think the flag was good, but the enforcement and announcement were botched.

The grab and tug by Grahm bent the gunner sideways and took him off stride.  No way to know how it effected the gunner's pursuit to the ball/returner.  You have to assume it would have in this case.  The foul should have been enforced as a post possession foul half the distance from the 11 (where Knox caught the ball).

They announced it as a foul "during the return" which was impossible since the ball was still in the air at the time of the foul and enforced the penalty half the distance from the flag.

There is some dicussion on this play going on at the officials forum as well.

http://forum.officiating.com/football/81234-enforcement-punt-return-never.html

[Atlanta Blue]

The penaty was recorded as "Offensive holding" which means it occured AFTER Chicago gained possession, which is why it was enforced from the spot of the foul.  That being said, I think it was incorrectly enforced, and was recorded as offensive holding in order to account for the improper enforcement.

And Hester did NOT signal for a fair catch.  If he had, no one on the receiving team could advance the ball:

10-2-3(a)3: If a player of the receiving team makes a valid fair-catch signal, and the ball is not
touched by a player of the kicking team, the following apply: 
If the ball is caught or recovered by a teammate who did not make a valid fair catch signal, the ball is dead immediately, but it is not a fair catch. The ball will next be put in play by a snap by the receiving team at the dead-ball spot (or at the succeeding spot after enforcement of any applicable penalties).

Basically the same as FED or NCAA in that regard.