The blatant hold on the safety play in SB...
 

The rusher literally got piggyback bear-hugged. Why wasn't it called?

Now, I get that even if they had called it, the play would have resulted in a safety anyways, but it was obvious that they intended to hold to allow the punter to use as much time as possible. They have rules to prevent teams from taking a penalty in order to save time, shouldn't there be a rule to prevent teams from playing illegally to kill more time?


http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/0ap20...-play-it-smart

I was more gassed by the Baltimore player taking a swing at the ref after the melee in the first half, no flag and no ejection.

yeah, the kid from Washburn University. Lucky he wasn't ejected.

The results of the game would have been the same.

Yea I was shocked at that. Cary Williams got really lucky there.

So now we think the NFL has some input?...

Is that a haiku?

I agree that, normally, that should have been called. However, the refs in that game were clearly trying to let the players play and get out of the way, which I like. There were other similar no-calls earlier in the game, so I'm OK with that one not being called.

(And I was rooting for the 9ers for the record.)

Not sure what the point to your question is?
It wouldn't have changed the outcome of the play or game.

Yup. That is one of the great things about playoffs and Super Bowl. The hits are a bit harder and players are allowed to play.

Didn't matter AT ALL. A holding call would have resulted in a safety. Hell, John could have told his players to tackle all of the 49ers players and it wouldn't have changed anything. Really smart players probably held as much as they could that play.

This.

Well until the end there, when they decided not to do that anymore and extended the Ravens drive on 3rd down with an incredibly weak PI call which led to what was ultimately a game winning FG.

The 49ers earned their loss by playing like garbage for a half and then allowing a kickoff TD, but the zebras absolutely played a role in that game for the last 2 drives and that's a damn shame.

No it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but a penalty is a penalty, no?

And when you're playing illegally in order to gain an advantage more valuable than the penalty that you'd take, there are rules that try to make doing that no longer a viable option.

So what I'm saying is there should be a rule that if you get called for a hold(or some other penalty) while leading inside of 2 minutes, you take the penalty, don't lose a down however all time is put back on the clock prior to that play happening. Teams shouldn't be allowed to hold in order to burn more time off the clock.

It would have resulted in more time on the clock, I believe. Which was, after all, the point of the play.