Houshmandzadeh Rocks
UPDATE: In retrospect, after thinking more about the Bengals close games this year, I have to say I agree with the wisdom former Louisville Cardinals head coach John L. Smith once spoke, "Good teams overcome bad calls." No referee is responsible for the Bengals' disappointing .500 record this year. That said, I'm still a major believer in Marvin Lewis, Bob Bratkowski and the rest of the coaching staff. Some years are just better than others.
The Cincinnati Bengals today lost their critical matchup against the Baltimore Ravens due to horrid officiating. Field referees refused to call a blatantly obvious pass interference call on the Ravens when they hit Housh before the ball arrived on a fourth down play with just a minute and change remaining.
Houshmandzadeh, understandably livid, removed his helmet and spiked it on the field. He was immediately tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (apparently the referees were still calling some penalties).
The game marked the third in which the Bengals were victimized by inept officiating. In the first the Bengals were called for a roughing penalty against New England when they took out a receiver on a critical crossing play - replays clearly showed the Bengals defender leveled the receiver with a shoulder, not a helmet. The second was when the Bengals were called for roughing the passer on a sack (a sack in which the Bengals forced and recovered a fumble) against Tampa Bay, which kept the Bengals from an easy shot at a winning score. The third was today when Houshmandzadeh clearly obtained a first down via a textbook pass interference play, but the officials inexplicably called no infraction.
Call me crazy, but I think that justifies a helment spike. In all its infinite wisdom, I suspect the NFL will fine Housh just as they levied a bogus $5,000 fine against Chad Johnson last week because he wore an Ocho Cinco nametag across his jersey nameplate during warmups. The fact Carson Palmer removed the Ocho Cinco nameplate prior to kickoff apparently meant nothing.
The Cincinnati Bengals today lost their critical matchup against the Baltimore Ravens due to horrid officiating. Field referees refused to call a blatantly obvious pass interference call on the Ravens when they hit Housh before the ball arrived on a fourth down play with just a minute and change remaining.
Houshmandzadeh, understandably livid, removed his helmet and spiked it on the field. He was immediately tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (apparently the referees were still calling some penalties).
The game marked the third in which the Bengals were victimized by inept officiating. In the first the Bengals were called for a roughing penalty against New England when they took out a receiver on a critical crossing play - replays clearly showed the Bengals defender leveled the receiver with a shoulder, not a helmet. The second was when the Bengals were called for roughing the passer on a sack (a sack in which the Bengals forced and recovered a fumble) against Tampa Bay, which kept the Bengals from an easy shot at a winning score. The third was today when Houshmandzadeh clearly obtained a first down via a textbook pass interference play, but the officials inexplicably called no infraction.
Call me crazy, but I think that justifies a helment spike. In all its infinite wisdom, I suspect the NFL will fine Housh just as they levied a bogus $5,000 fine against Chad Johnson last week because he wore an Ocho Cinco nametag across his jersey nameplate during warmups. The fact Carson Palmer removed the Ocho Cinco nameplate prior to kickoff apparently meant nothing.
posted by Erik Eckel at 3:59 PM
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