Poor officiating can often be used as a lazy way to question the outcome of a game, but that was not the case during Sunday’s Panthers vs Buccaneers season finale. There was an egregious missed call when tight end Tommy Tremble had his helmet ripped off by a defender. The erroneous whistle that ended an active play with no correction. And a questionable offensive pass interference call against Panthers rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
After the game referee Brad Allen answered several questions about the game’s officiating.
Question: What did you see on the third quarter swing pass to Carolinaās Rico Dowdle initially ruled an incompletion that was later ruled a backwards pass?
Allen: āThe line judge made an initial ruling of incomplete, then the down judge saw that the pass was clearly backward.ā
Question: Was replay assist used on the play?
Allen: āReplay assist was not used on that play, that ruling was made on the field.ā
Question: The rules analyst on ESPN called it an erroneous whistle (one official signaled an incomplete pass) How did you come to the conclusion that the Panthers should have lost yards (2nd-and-10 vs. 2nd-and-17)? Should the Panthers have gotten the choice to either replay the down or keep the ball where it was ruled?
Allen: āWhat was reported to me was the ruling on the field was a backward pass, and once it was possessed, the receiver or runner gave himself up which by rule caused the play to become dead. Because of the erroneous whistle, the Panthers could have had a choice to replay the down.ā
Question: What was seen on the offensive pass interference call against Carolina that negated a long pass completion in the third quarter?
Allen: āThe covering official saw that the receiver created separation more than one-yard downfield, which by rule is illegal and is offensive pass interference.ā
After the loss Panthers head coach Dave Canales took the high road when asked about officiating.
“I don’t really want to get into that, because we just didn’t play well enough offensively,” Canales said when asked about the officiating. We didn’t get our run game going. A bad day on third down, which doesn’t give us an opportunity to extend the drives and really have a balanced offense. Some missed opportunities out there, so it really just has to be on us and about the execution.”
