halloween 65

That was the longest piece of freakin' grass on the field I ever saw. TD

TheOak

Catching a ball..while... touching toes.... Gymnastics?

ScottF

or a ghey olympic event

homerj07

i wont say "no question" but...

Halo

As soon as we can find some video from youtube etc, would love to see it again. Anyone TiVo the game?

saintsfan1976

Danno is correct. Toe in but heel out equals "out of bounds" and the same goes for heel in, toe out.

BUT,

In this case, Jimmy Graham's knee was down before the toe hit. Should have been called a touchdown. Period.

Danno

That pic is after his toe touched. The replay clearly showed his toe hit the line before his knee hit.

skymike

Im going to have to second this, as much as I hate to. A great catch, great body
control, and, of course, he's a Saint, and I cant stand to admit it, but for that teeny, tiny, microbial, molecular, foreskin of an amoeba point, the outer electrons of his cleat, did make casual contact with the neutrons of a grain of chalk-- though we have no proof that there was penetration of their atomic fields.

The screen shot (and thanks to the poster who put it up.) is of Graham after his toe apparently touched the microscopic point of the out-of-bounds. Its after. It did touch, sorta. Its not a catch. Also,
the serious answer to this is: The replay could not provide conclusive evidence to disprove the call.

The stupid thing is, if he could have flipped his body, held the ball over the "plane," and then his whole body lands out of bounds--- thats a touchdown. The "plane" of the endzone goes on for infinity, but out of bounds only applies to the physical flat surface. Except on the West Coast where you'll get your local news.

Someday, somebody is going to lose a Super Bowl on "theory."

Are we doing too much thinking here?

This game was an officials nightmare. This call was microscopic, as was the Tracy Porter-induced fumble. Porter hit the QB the exact moment his throwing motion began, right down the line. If that play had a rectum, the correct call would have gave it a colonoscopy. It was right down dead magnetic north center. A survey crew from the USGS wouldnt know what to call it.

I think the officials do a good job in real time.

I think we should just go to Backyard Rules:
1. If you have the ball, you caught it.
2. If somebody else has the ball, its a fumble.
3. Out of bounds is in your mind. Basically, you have to stop, and declare yourself out of bounds for you to be out of bounds. Out of bounds is more a sancturary for your protection, than an enforced boundry. Out of bounds is usually defined, as "past the tree." Many home stadiums have only one Out of Bounds. The other side is a fence or a ditch.
4. A touchdown is when you run past the other tree. (or post, or bumper, or if you're really poor-- a shoe.) There's no "plane," and there are no Fleur De Leaps. You have to get your whole body into the mutually agreed endzone. However there is no backline. You can run as far as you want to catch a touchdown, so long as you dont breach the Out of Bounds Tree, or run into the ditch.
5. Best of all, There is no Replay. Seriously, I hate replay. Replay will disappoint you as much as it will right injustices. #1, it holds up the game, and disrupts not only the teams tempo, but also the whole event. This, and SpongeBob, is why American kids are getting into soccer. Football requires too much attention span now. Call it on the field, quit crying, and line up for the kick. Play freakin ball!

In backyard ball, Graham's catch is a touchdown. No questions. He scores, we high five, and the Titans shut up and walk to receive the kick at the wrong side of the field, while the Saints kick out of their endzone, or throw it up really high and pretend its a kick.

pherein

Seahawks lost a super bowl over bad refs, they recanted on their ruling later
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5444048

Euphoria

Yes but you can make a great catch with just your toes in bounds and your next complete foot or knee lands out of bounds its a catch. They make several of these highlights on ESPN weekly.

Another case this was a TD is that you DO NOT have to have both feet in bounds you can have a foot and a knee in which case its a TD they got it wrong by over looking his knee.