Referee Pete Morelli Had Four Penalties In Key Play

Following the Lions 24-20 loss against the Dallas Cowboys, the whole country turns its eye on the controversial no call following the possible defensive interference. It was originally called on the field as Defensive Interference and was deserving of an automatic first down but the flag was picked up by other members of the referee crew. Many factors played into the ruling but the persuasion by the Cowboys personnel seemed to contribute mightily on the decision. The star wide receiver stormed onto the field and argued the call right before the flag was picked up, but the actions by Dez Bryant was deserving of a misconduct penalty, which would give the Detroit Lions a first down anyway. But instead the jurisdiction was not given and no penalties were enforced, and the Lions had to stay on the field with 4th and 1 and needed to convert in order to keep momentum. An A gap blitz by the middle linebacker was too much for Detroit's O line, and Stafford was sacked and they turned it over on downs.
      In college rules, the play between Pettigrew and Hitchens is considered illegal because face guarding was not allowed, however, in the NFL the concept is completely legal and no penalty could be handed down if it were ever to happen again. In the NFL rule books, it states in terms of positioning to the ball, that contact by a defender who is not playing the ball and such contact restricts the receiver's opportunity to make the catch. In the play, Hitchens did not turn his head completely around when the ball arrive, and he was playing the man and not the ball. He grabbed the bottom of Pettigrew's jersey to catch up after he was beat at the line of scrimmage and prevented him from catching the ball cleanly.
     The views of the referee who made the call blows this story out of proportion because his views distort the actuality of the play itself when it happened live. He stated that the contact was far less than he expected, however, from his vantage point there was a lot of contact against the man that prevented the receiver from making the catch.

"The back judge threw his flag for defensive pass interference," Morelli said in a pool report. "We got other information from another official from a different angle that thought the contact was minimal and didn't warrant pass interference. He thought it was face guarding."

The result of the referee's inadvertent decision cost the Lions the chance to end their postseason slump as they were tied for the longest drought in NFL history. Their last win came in 1992, which is one of the longest stretches ever to not win a postseason game. Dallas will move on to play Green Bay Packers next week, while the Panthers take on the Seahawks.