ClintSaints

Well, I suppose it seems whiny to moan about the officiating in a game we actually won, but I have seen the game in its entirety five times now (yep, I'm obsessed).

The officiating in this game was just horrifically bad.

1. Let's look back on the first half, where Sean Payton decided to go for it on 4th down. It shouldn't have been fourth down. I watched the previous play in slow motion a couple of times and Pierre Thomas CLEARLY had a first down. It couldn't have been more clear. His body didn't touch the ground until the football had crossed the first down marker by about a half a yard. Disgusting officiating.

2. The back to back holding calls on Jahri Evans were bogus. The first holding call was somewhat legitimate, but not unlike many, many plays I've seen offensive lineman do that are routinely not called by officials. The second holding call was totally f**king bogus. And both commentators said the second holding call was bogus.

3. At one point, Gene Steratore patted Matt Ryan on the butt after he got knocked down. This smacks of favoritism. I thought it was horrible.

4. There were several times when it seemed totally clear that the Falcons were desperately holding onto our lineman (um, as in, Cameron Jordan for instance), and they barely ever got flagged.

5. To be fair, there was also, imho, a very bad call that went our way. On the first series of the game, when Atlanta went three and out, it really seemed to me (and to the commentators) that Will Herring was basically tackling Tony Gonzalez before Matt Ryan threw the ball.

Okay, so call me a deranged obsessed fan, but I absolutely stand by these points, especially the first two: Pierre Thomas had the first down COLD and the second holding call on Jahri was freaking bogus!

Gene Steratore is now on my "bad list" of officials, along with the completely terrible Ed Hochuli, Bill Leavy (clueless!), and Mitch Triplett.

I hope and pray the officiating is better at the Bucs game. I hope we get Scott Green (Super Bowl 44 yo!), or someone I like.