Sir, you should know by now that the Steelers can't get a win without people whining. Why bother giving the argument credibility?
Mike Pereira has already confirmed it was a good call. I tend to believe those who do this for a living, have had training, and points of view on the field that none of us have. They make bad calls at times that don't get reviewed, and they freely admit it. This time, they are sticking by the call which leads me to believe they are right.
“We confirmed it was a fumble,” said Pereira. “The replay assistant in the replay booth saw it was clearly a fumble. The ball got knocked loose and was rolling in his hand before it started forward. He has to have total control.”
I rewound this several times yesterday. I wasn't convinced it was a fumble, either. I don't think I would have really complained either way. However, the balls is definitely not moving forward. It is moving more up to get ready to go forward as part of his throwing motion. You can see right at about :35 that Woodley gets his hands on the ball before it comes forward. Then if you compare that to the next shot, you can see that he loses control before the arm comes forward.
Everyone knows, though, that with the 8 or 7 seconds left and the Steelers playing prevent obviously expecting a long ball, the Cardinals would have had a last second 50 yard pass for a TD and won the game...
Even if this did turn out to be a bad call, the Cardinals lost this game on their own with 106 yards given up in penalties.
