AJ Hawk Penalty

[Scott Campbell]

This call changed the outcome of the game. I didn't see him touch the WR after 5 yards. Was it a phantom call?

[Bretsky]

legit, but the type of cheap call that you see one out of every three plays

[mission]

definitely coulda called... definitely could not have called

one of those

[esoxx]

I thought it was a bad call. Looked like contact within five yds then let him go.

Watch the replay. Right after the play, Winslow immediately puts his head down and starts walking to the sideline. Typically when a receiver is held, they will be flipping out to the refs. His reaction said it all.

It was an excellent play by Hawk.

[red]

he grabed him, but it was a really weak call. and i'm not sure it was past 5 yards

i'd say hawk got jobbed on that one

[Cheesehead Craig]

he grabed him, but it was a really weak call. and i'm not sure it was past 5 yards

i'd say hawk got jobbed on that one
+1 He made a great play.

[channtheman]

One of those famous reserved for Packers calls where the ref waits until he sees the result of the play, and then throws the flag.

[Cheesehead Craig]

The thing that pissed me off the most about that penalty was that the refs completely missed the Center that was 20 yds downfield on that big pass play to Ward. He was actually 5 yds more downfield than Ward was. How can they call a borderline call like that on Hawk but miss the completely obvious one on the OL?

[packerbacker1234]

It was a penalty. Maybe a bit ticky tack, but he did have hte guys arm and didn't make contact after 5 yards. The only issue I had is the flag didn't get thrown pretty much until the pick happened. Meaning if it was incomplete, it may have never gotten called.

That is my issue with the ref in that situation. Hawk did, however, technically make illegal contact. Did it help him get the pick? Who knows. It was a legit call, I just didn't like hwo the ref handled it.

[Brohm]

Bad teams get bad penalties called against them. It's the rep of MM coached teams at this point. Hell they just assumed 12 man on the field when A.J ran off and came back on.

[digitaldean]

The thing that pissed me off the most about that penalty was that the refs completely missed the Center that was 20 yds downfield on that big pass play to Ward. He was actually 5 yds more downfield than Ward was. How can they call a borderline call like that on Hawk but miss the completely obvious one on the OL?

This is the same referee crew that needed MM to challenge a 12 men on the field penalty. They missed this, but they also missed a pushoff DD got away with vs. Ronde Barber.

It was a borderline call, true. But good teams still make the play to win the game. The Packers are not even close to a good team.

[MJZiggy]

Twelve men was a booth call--inside the two-minute...

[Packers4Glory]

I didnt think it was a penalty but this is kinda what happens when you're a team that commits a lot of penalties. you get more of those phantom calls than a better disciplined team gets.

[ND72]

Was not a penalty. #1, Hawk "grabbed" Winslow, because Winslow grabbed the top of his shoulder pads and pulled, just a natural reaction, but that was at 2 yards, #2, he never touched him again after that. Sirius NFL Radio said the NFL has already determined that was a "miss-call"....which lead to the winning TD.

[Fred's Slacks]

First, I don't think this call cost us the game. Our oline, pass rush (lack of) and special teams did that. But, I am now convinced you need to be partially retarded to be a ref in the NFL. First of all you call 12 men on the field when there were only 11? Did they just assume that since someone ran on late that they had 12? Aren't they actually supposed to count? Maybe one of them should not wear a shoe so they have enough digits to get to 11. Then the Hawk play. The illegal contact was put in place to prevent players for being mugged all the way down the field. It was not introduced so that officials could watch closely and if the defenders hand was still brushing the jersey at 5 1/2 yards a bad throw could then be bailed out with a 5 yard penalty. Officials need to understand the spirit of the rule. Did Hawk's contact give him an unfair advantage? No. Therefore no flag should have been thrown. Don't just call something because you want to feel like part of the game.

[hoosier]

It was a penalty. Maybe a bit ticky tack, but he did have hte guys arm and didn't make contact after 5 yards. The only issue I had is the flag didn't get thrown pretty much until the pick happened. Meaning if it was incomplete, it may have never gotten called.

That is my issue with the ref in that situation. Hawk did, however, technically make illegal contact. Did it help him get the pick? Who knows. It was a legit call, I just didn't like hwo the ref handled it.

Agreed. Hawk was beat by Winslow, who he let get too much inside leverage against him. He kind of pulled Winslow about 8 yards downfield, and it clearly either affected Winslow's speed as he was making a cut or helped Hawk to recover his balance. I didn't think the penalty was questionable at all.

[ND72]

It was a penalty. Maybe a bit ticky tack, but he did have hte guys arm and didn't make contact after 5 yards. The only issue I had is the flag didn't get thrown pretty much until the pick happened. Meaning if it was incomplete, it may have never gotten called.

That is my issue with the ref in that situation. Hawk did, however, technically make illegal contact. Did it help him get the pick? Who knows. It was a legit call, I just didn't like hwo the ref handled it.

Agreed. Hawk was beat by Winslow, who he let get too much inside leverage against him. He kind of pulled Winslow about 8 yards downfield, and it clearly either affected Winslow's speed as he was making a cut or helped Hawk to recover his balance. I didn't think the penalty was questionable at all.

nope...just watched it again on DVR...only contact between Hawk & Winslow was at 2 yards when they essentially ran into eachother, Hawk had his arm at 3 yards, and then never had a piece of him again. Winslow infact had to change his path because another Packer was running across the field, but no where did Hawk have a hold of him or anything beyong that 2-3 yard mark.

[Brando19]

It was a penalty. Maybe a bit ticky tack, but he did have hte guys arm and didn't make contact after 5 yards. The only issue I had is the flag didn't get thrown pretty much until the pick happened. Meaning if it was incomplete, it may have never gotten called.

That is my issue with the ref in that situation. Hawk did, however, technically make illegal contact. Did it help him get the pick? Who knows. It was a legit call, I just didn't like hwo the ref handled it.

Agreed. Hawk was beat by Winslow, who he let get too much inside leverage against him. He kind of pulled Winslow about 8 yards downfield, and it clearly either affected Winslow's speed as he was making a cut or helped Hawk to recover his balance. I didn't think the penalty was questionable at all.

nope...just watched it again on DVR...only contact between Hawk & Winslow was at 2 yards when they essentially ran into eachother, Hawk had his arm at 3 yards, and then never had a piece of him again. Winslow infact had to change his path because another Packer was running across the field, but no where did Hawk have a hold of him or anything beyong that 2-3 yard mark.

That shit needs to be reviewable. Refs suck dick.

[hoosier]

It was a penalty. Maybe a bit ticky tack, but he did have hte guys arm and didn't make contact after 5 yards. The only issue I had is the flag didn't get thrown pretty much until the pick happened. Meaning if it was incomplete, it may have never gotten called.

That is my issue with the ref in that situation. Hawk did, however, technically make illegal contact. Did it help him get the pick? Who knows. It was a legit call, I just didn't like hwo the ref handled it.

Agreed. Hawk was beat by Winslow, who he let get too much inside leverage against him. He kind of pulled Winslow about 8 yards downfield, and it clearly either affected Winslow's speed as he was making a cut or helped Hawk to recover his balance. I didn't think the penalty was questionable at all.

nope...just watched it again on DVR...only contact between Hawk & Winslow was at 2 yards when they essentially ran into eachother, Hawk had his arm at 3 yards, and then never had a piece of him again. Winslow infact had to change his path because another Packer was running across the field, but no where did Hawk have a hold of him or anything beyong that 2-3 yard mark.

I only saw the play once on replay. I was quite sure then that Hawk grabbed him after 5 yards. I have to defer to your having seen it multiple times, though. Too bad nfl.com doesn't put questionable penalties up on their video site--I would be interested to see what it looks like again.

[rbaloha1]

Poor call. No reason for this to be called. Did not cost the Packers the game since we had other chances to stop the Bucs and failed.

[MichiganPackerFan]

Agree that it was a bad call. Despite it, GB should have won by 3 td's and it shouldn't be an issue.

[Smidgeon]

It was nice to see him make some impact plays.

[PackerTimer]

This is a tough one, I thought it was a terrible call that did and didn't cost the Packers the game. It did cost them the game in that it definitely affected the outcome and the Packers probably would have won had it not been called. It didn't cost them the game in that letting that call determine a game against an 0-7 team is just terrible. They played so poorly in so many other spots that I won't blame it on one call.

[sharpe1027]

If you aren't sure of how many men are out there, you don't throw a flag just because there *might* be 12.

If you aren't sure of where the contact occurred, you don't throw a flag just because it *might* have been past 5 yards.

The default is not to throw a flag. These are not "judgment" calls, they are about as black and white as it gets. 5 yards is 5 yards is 5 yards. 12 does not equal 11.

If they are going to start calling it that close and messing it up (twice this year for the Packers in big, game-changing situations), it should be reviewable.

Still, it was not the reason they lost.