Dean Blandino

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in on that. You get twenty minutes five minutes away from Dean Blandino, NFL on Fox Rules Analysts to discuss an experts take on what the hell happened at the end of Cowboys lines and other rules like the rule Danny hates. I want to talk about this college football playoff Yesterday final four. I first of all, hate the college football four team playoff. I think it should be twelve. And just because the last two years have been great close games,

does not mean the ten year span of this has been good. It hasn't a lot of blowouts and things like that. We're getting a twelve team playoff next year. That's good. These teams have taken a month off of playing games like this is not actively All this downtime and the bowl games, the other bowl games, they don't matter. Everyone knows they don't matter. Texas State, maybe Texas State gets their first ball game, it's big for them. Well, like I said, nobody watches them other than the smaller

market teams. Yeah, that's it's Hey, we're on big TV. Let's watch the Florida State got snubbed. They were undefeated and a one loss Alabama team got put in as the four seed. Florida State showed up for their bowl game against Georgia and said, now we're not gonna play anybody. Georgia beat him sixty three to three. None of Florida State, hardly Florida State's good players play now they got snub Part of the reason they got snubbed is

because their quarterback towards ACL late in the year. So basically, your games don't matter if your quarterback gets hurt is what the committee said. Alabama Michigan was great, went to overtime, Michigan got the win, Alabama out. It's a three year stretch without a championship appearance right now. It's is that the first time in Nick Saban's seventeen year tenure they've done three straight years without winning a national championship. Now, the story going into this was Jim Harball

He's got an agent to trying to get an NFL job. Everyone thinks he's leaving for the NFL. But also there was a big film scandal for all the years of Nick Saban probably paying players when he shouldn't have. Probably maybe not, but you know, probably there's only one reason he was so outspoken against the NIL and paying college players, because you were doing it already and you had an advantage. Probably there's maybe I'm trying to slander the guy.

I'm just like, it's possible. Allegedly Jim Harbaugh gets it a cut at a film, a sign stealing scandal, and it's like college football is just about new ways to cheat that's kind of a big takeaway. Florida State, I actually think could have beat Michigan Alabama. Now, if you're someone who doesn't pay close attention and you go, Georgia just wiped out Florida State sixty

three to three years old state with a healthy quarterback. I think with their backup, their defense is that good, they at least deserved a chance in my opinion. But whatever happened, it was a good game. The night game Washington and Texas. Everyone was excited for this because both of these defenses aren't very good and it was going to be a shootout. You have Michael Pennix or a summer pronouncing his last name penis. No one's pronouncing it like

that. Michael Pennix Junior, who's about thirty nine years old, went out there and carved up Texas. Okay, he's twenty, but he's like Brandon Whedon. If Brendan Whedon were good, you know, Okay, I'm like Howard Stern if I were good, We're good. Yeah. So it's thirty four to twenty one. Washington is leading, and by the way, Washington's played a near perfect game. Texas was fumbling the ball, letting guys letting guys in cast return kicks. It was really shady situation for Texas, but

they stayed in it. Thirty four to twenty one. They got the lead. Washington gives them the ball to back. Texas scores thirty four to twenty eight. So Washington then gets the ball and they're going downfield and they have a chance to run the clock out, but they're running back. Dylan Johnson gets hurt and he's writhing in pain on the field, and you know the old rule where the clock stops if you get hurt. The one thing Washington could not have was the clock stop. Texas was out of timeouts and on

it was a second or third down play and he was third down. They're running backs on the field that he can't get off the field on his own power. So the clock stops and Texas gets the ball back with the chance to go do some damage and take it the length of the field with no timeouts, with like twenty five seconds, and they got close. They hit a bomb ski okay, so Texas moves down. The game ended with Texas inside the fifteen yard line with three shots to the end zone, and they

didn't get it. Washington wins. But it was like, when is this game gonna end? First of all, but it was great. That's what's great about college football, because look, I had to go to bed, and I like, I told you, I'm gonna go to bed at nine o'clock and I'm gonna toss and turn until eleven. And I'll be damned if that's not exactly what happened. And I did look at my phone and check, and I think it was what did you say, thirty four to twenty

thirty four to twenty eight. No, but before that, before it was thirty four to twenty one one. Yeah, I'm like, okay, But in my mind, I'm like, this is college football, dude. It's so easy to come back in college football, especially if you're good, because that little first stopping the clock on every first down. Man, you can make those games last four and a half hours because of that wonderful rule. When I was watching it too, I was going, man, Washington would

have just abandoned the run completely and just thrown it every play. They would have put fifty points in the Longhorns. Would you trade that in the NFL to get rid of the two minute warning? Yes, that stop the clock on every first down. Oh no, no, I want the game. I want the two minute warning. I do like that, it'll take two minute warning. And I don't like the clock stopping. You don't like this clock stopping on first downs when it's late in the game. No, I

don't know, boy, that just generates so much excitement. I mean, I don't know it helps that aspect of it. But like these games can't of go, but it keeps teams in it. Maybe when they shouldn't be in the long, they've got to be short. Yeah, that's true. Maybe twenty minute halftime should be three out. Maybe it's cool to have the distinction between the two Washington versus Michigan in the National Championship game. That should

be fun. I'm pulling for Washington big time. I know we got a lot of Texas fans listening today, so you know, whether you like Texas or not, let's you know, all the thought for those guys. It's not a sexy matchup. Give me the Huskies all day. Alabama Texas would have been that would have broke the Internet and have also been a network a network cream dream for sure. Yeah, speaking of network cream dreams, joining us now on the freak hotline. It's NFL on Fox Rules Analyst and other.

I mean, he's done so much you can't just put a blanket statement on this guy. This guy has got many titles, but a NFL on Fox Rules Analyst Dean Blandino, Hello Dean, how are you? Hey? Guys, And that's the best introduction I've ever had a network Cream Dream's amazing. That's how you got hired, right. I think they were like, hey, we know, like we got Pereira and he's he's killing and also hope he gets well soon. But let's let's really raise the sex appeal here.

Yeah, exactly, exactly, And that was a great I watched the end of the game, Kap, and your description was more exciting than the actual end of the beginning. Oh, thank you. Well that's the power of radio. But and for you, it was ten o'clock, not a midnight for us who have to wake up at four am. Oh I never would have stayed out if I was on Central Time, No way, I'm asleep. Yeah, it was kind of a bad start. Time East Coast would have been one am. Finish. Well, thanks for getting up.

It's tough for us to get West Coast guests on the show, because you know our show ends in forty five minutes where it's eight am where you are, so thank you for getting up and and responding to me. This happens Saturday night. Obviously, dive in. We tried to lay it out as basic as possible a couple hours ago. Did the refs did? Did almost? Don't be mean to Brad Allen, but did the ref just get confused and mess up? Like? What is your I guess description of what happened?

I think there's a couple of things. But before the game, you know, the officials will go to each locker room, two officials. Ninety minutes before the game, we'll go to each locker room, see the head coach, look if they have any questions. Do you have any trick plays, any gadgets that we need to know about? And so you know, the lines told Brett the two officials that we're going to have seventy committed report from time to time we might have a tackle eligible play, just so the

officials are aware of what's happening. And I think with that situation, I think there was a couple of things. Sixty eight is on the end of the line he's the one obviously that catches the pat he has to report. The lines aren't going to run that play without sixty eight reporting. It's the whole play depends on that. But I think what they did is they kind of got a little bit cute where they had not just not just Decker, but Tonay Sewell and then Skipper come on to the field and then go to

the referee. So there were offensive linemen in front of Brett Allen and then seventies coming onto the field and almost like kind of the skis who who was really reporting? And I think Brad Allen just assumed that it was seventy because he had done it during the game earlier, and so Brad went too fast,

assumed that that seventy was reporting. The Lions kind of try to disguise it, and it just created this confusion, and Brad Allen announced seventy, told the defense seventy was eligible, and then obviously when once sixty eight catches a pass and to the officials he hasn't reported, that becomes a foul, and now where you know, And that's basically what happened. So basically,

in the Lions' efforts to deceive the Dallas defense. They ended up deceiving the officiating crew, and I think Dan Campbell and his press conference yesterday admitted as much. Yeah, and with no timeouts left, they don't they can't you do anything to reset that. And I believe the eligibility number had been announced over the PA system. So at that point it's kind of like, well, what are you going to do? You know, I think that's exactly

right now. I'm not saying that there isn't there isn't some responsibility on the official side, right, don't you can't go too fast. Look, it's a two point try. It's basically for the game. The clock isn't running. Don't assume anything. Just make sure. Okay, who's eligible? Sixty eight are you reporting? It's seventy reporting. I think just kind of went into more of like an auto auto drive mode. Seventy had reported earlier. Okay, here he comes, and the Lions kind of you know, I

get it. They you know, they they're trying to trick play. That's the whole point. They want to trick the defense, but unfortunately they trick the referee. Okay, so does it? Can you want me through the operation of By the way, this is NFL on Fox, Rules analyst Dean Blandino joining us. Now, nice reset, Katie, Yeah, Joe, just trying to hit all the benchmarks, you know, the can you walk me through the operation of this so or maybe I have a foggy memory here?

Is it common when a player reports that you might hear the referee on the crowd mic, you know, or on his microphone say, and if he says that number seventy had reported that, maybe everyone would have known, and maybe the Lions could have been like, no, that's not what happened. Or is that just heat of the moment two point conversion for a win, crowd noise like what happens there? No, it is. So. The the protocol is the player. The first time the player comes in and

he's gonna he's gonna play a position that he's not eligible to play. So sixty eight comes into the game, says I'm gonna play, I'm gonna be eligible. The referee will make that announcement, and and and the and bred Allen did there there's it didn't. I don't think it showed up on the broadcast, but I have seen some videos on social media where you could hear it yep. The Spanish broadcast at it. Yeah, and a lot of times in the stadium it's hard to hear obviously, that's you know, he

got CrowdIn range, you got all these things. But he did announce it, and that is the proper protocol. And then at that point, you know, if the Lions recognized that but they're out of time out, certainly they could they could say, hey, wait a minute, no it's not. But now you've kind of now now it's going to create a delay. You might end up getting a delay of game. There's a lot of factors. Once once kind of the the you know, the seventy had had been

announced, it was tough to kind of go back. Okay, so and the Lions probably couldn't have even I mean, if it was announced wherever, the Lions are probably just trying to call the play and no one is even thinking, hey they just announced that. The wrong guy reported. I mean, is because I don't know, maybe and maybe as loud as it was, maybe that's fine, and that's a tough spot. I guess the ref is in but man, you just want you know, from from the referee

perspective, the referee thought seventy we're going normal, normal mechanics. Seventy is the eligible player with the ineligible number, and and you know, maybe the lines didn't maybe stick in here the announcement, or they just kind of, like you said, they're getting ready to run the play and it just got by them. And to make it even more wacky, if seventy had been the guy that reported as an eligible receiver, he was lined up illegally to

be an eligible receiver. Correct, exactly right. There's if seventy reports, there's there's three fouls on the play, there's there's an illegal formation, there's an eligible downfield on sixty eight, and there's illegal touching on sixty eight. It doesn't look from the line's perspective, I get it, because we're not seventy is not going to report because it just makes the whole play void.

It doesn't. It doesn't work. There's seventy reports at sixty eight, doesn't I think that in that attempt to kind of disguise it, the referee assumed it was seventy. And now you know, now we're talking about it. Dean Blandino joining us right now on the downbeat. So let me ask you, this is that error egregious enough to warrant that officiating crew getting downgraded going

into the playoffs in your opinion, Well, I think there is. And the officials are evaluated on every game and they're you know, they get a report, and that report accumulates throughout the season, and they grade out well, they get postseason assignments, they hope grade out well. They're sitting at home, and so I think that situation, I think it would in my

view if I were there. Certainly, Again, I just think the referee went too quick and assume something in a situation where let's just make sure, let's get this right. And when you watch the video Skipper seventy, he doesn't even get close to Brad Allen. He's still probably ten yards away and Brett Allen is running to the defense. So I don't there's no way Skipper reported. He just assumed it. And so yeah, I do think that

that has to be taken into account. And you look at that crew, Brett Allen's crew, They've they've been involved in some controversial calls and games this year. You go back to the Packers and Chiefs, So yeah, I would be you know, I would be surprised. No, Bred Allen's a big referee and everybody you know, they had they had a tough year. But I would be surprised if, if you know, he he has a playoff game just because of everything that's happened this year. Yeah, I was,

that was kind of I asked the question poorly. Was that enough or was this more of a cumulative effect of other incidents that had happened throughout the year. You know, an effect and you look at that if you haven't. Unfortunately, and we've seen this with other referees. If you go back, if you remember Phil Luckett was a referee where there were calls that happened. He had a coin toss and then some other things and no one remembers

the side judge or no one remembers the line. Just they remember the referee, right, because that's the white hat. That's the person on the microphone right. And you know, from my perspective, I've got this referee that has this kind of baggage for lack of a better term, this year, and if I put him in a playoff game and something happens, that comes back on me and the officiating department and things like that. So those are

things you have to take into consideration going into the playoffs. It's a world of optics. No, I absolutely is, especially now, I mean the narrative going into that game. At least locally, there's a big topic about Michael Parsons commenting on not getting any holding calls, which, while we have you, is that something the Cowboys They definitely go and have those conversations for

those no, no question. And look, I haven't watched every snap that Mike has been on the field, so and I would imagine he's been held this year and it hasn't been called because he's such a great player. And I just think that's such it's just an anomaly, you know, I don't they're not going into the game saying, hey, we're gonna let eleven get

held. All game officials don't. They just don't work that way. They're going to try to see, you know, look at the play and if there is a hole, to'll call it, and they're probably missed some. There's no question you can't that he's so good. I can't imagine he hasn't been held this year. Yeah, yeah, do you think that that it's almost a byproduct of him being so exceptional? I kind of equate it to like the the Shaquille O'Neill factor, where he's getting fouled on every play,

but even on the plays where he's getting fouled, he's breaking backboards. Is it that Michael Parsons is getting held more often than it's getting called, but because he's still getting to the quarterback and still applying pressure and making tackles and getting sacks, that those things are overlooked just because he's so exceptional that he's

able to play through a penalty. It's definitely possible when you think about because what the officials were looking for is restriction, and if he's fighting through that restriction and still getting to the quarterback, he made hell. But it doesn't jump out right because well, he there wasn't enough restriction he got there.

It used to be Gronkls like that. He used to have conversations with him and with the Patriots Rob Bronkowski. He's so big and strong that he would get held downfield, but it just didn't look as bad because he was bigger and stronger than the guy trying to guard him. And that goes back to the shack thing. I think that's possible that Hey didn't look like enough restriction because he got through it, and I think that might be part of it.

Do you like the rule where the fumble the ceedee lamb. Let's talk about the fumble out of the end zone There, you know you're trying to score and you fumble the ball and it goes through the side of the end zone and the back of the end zone. The ball goes out of bounds on a fumble. Do you like the rule as it is? Do you see that rule getting changed? What's your kind of thoughts on that? OK,

the rule as it is? I do. I think the end zone when you think about football, the closer you get to the end zone, if every yard becomes more important, everything, the goal line is special. I think fumbling at the fifty yard line and it goes out of bounds, I get it. You're to keep the football when you're at the goal line, and you risk losing that football and that goes into the end zone. I think there has to be some penalty there, and I get it.

The defense hasn't recovered it, so I understand that. And it's also consistent anytime the team that has the ball puts the ball into their opponent's end zone. Whether it's a kickoff, a punt, you know, those types of things, they're all touchbacks. I think it's consistent, and I also think the en zone is just that much more important. And I get it. Look, you're trying to make a play, the ball comes loose, and so I understand the other side of it that that is extremely punitive, But

I do just think the goal line is different. Can I play Devil's advocate? Yeah, okay. It strikes me as somewhat of a hypocritical rule. If let's say that Ceedee Lamb gets that ball punched out and he's going for the end zone and he gets it punched out at the ten and the ball rolls out of bounds at the five, then the ball the Cowboys benefit from

an extra five yards because of the fumble. I just don't understand if the ball is not recovered in the end zone and it doesn't go out of and it just simply would have gone out of bounds had it not been the goal line, how would it be a terrible idea that that they just retain the ball where the fumble was created. And you can even say the same thing about any forward progress of a fumble getting knocked out that you don't benefit from that. If it goes out of bounds, the ball is retained where the

fumble happened. If you just made that a rule across the board, then you wouldn't even have to worry about this, in my opinion, a kind of a ridiculous touchback rule, and that is that is the rule. If it doesn't go out of bounce through the end zone and then it comes back to the spot of the fumble, they're not going to benefit. They're not going to get the five yards. If you fumble at the ten and it goes out of bounds at the five, you're getting the ball back at the

ten. So that is the current rule other than the goal line, and I do think, look, you could change it and just treat them all like forward fumble out of bounds and just bring it back to the spot of

the humble. What's funny is we did that last year in the XFL and we only had one play all year, and it was in the last game, and it was Seattle in Vegas, and the Vegas player started celebrating at the five yard line on a long pitch and run and the defender knocked it out from behind, it went out through the end zone and we brought it back and gave Vegas the offensive ball back and everybody went crazy. They're like,

why isn't that a touchback? So I think I get it. A lot of people don't like the rule, but I just do think the end zone is special, and I personally liked the rule, but I could see it getting changed. I think there's enough people that don't like it where it's get changed. I think the end zone is special too. It's sacred for taking the ball. Okay, Dean, I have lightning around fifteen seconds because

we got to stay on time. We're goe in trouble when you the other day they did a ten to three to one format, ten games in the nuon slot, three in the three to twenty five slot. That's got to be hell on you, right, because you have more games and how do you can't watch six games at once? Yeah, we had five games in the in the early windows, so that was. Yeah, it's kind of like rapid fire. What's happening here in the team, and it makes it

go fast. It's definitely I'd rather watch five games than one really crappy game. But it's you know, and it's going to be like that this this Sunday, we'll have a bunch of games because all the games are on I think there's two on Saturday in the restaurant Sunday. Yeah, all right, Well you're doing a great job, and uh, we appreciate you, man, we do. You're a good dude, Jean, You're a good dude.

I've been trying to tell I've been telling the Metroplexist for years. There's still some people who still have it have it out for you, you know, not me to know. We're coming up. We're coming up on January what is it, the fifteenth, whatever the date is. You know we're coming up on that day. Oh no, I'm sure my my social media will well, we'll have we'll have a lot of fun on that day. It's not I think we're at the nine year anniversary, so I'm waiting.

We're going to do something special for the ten years, something special. You know, if the Packers and Cowboys win this weekend and it's Packers and Cowboys, you know, it just fires. No part of that. I want no part. Oh man, Well, Dan, thank you so much for the time. We'll be bothering you. Ff. There's any other bad calls next week. Good you're not. We're not paying you to do a weekly Have a good time out there, stay safe from the big waves out in

Ventura. Yeah, rock on man, all right, thanks guys, Love you dog there he goes. What a cool dude to do the for us. You know you're trying to tell people he's the sweetest guy, and he got it right. I'm sorry you got it right. That's why his job is coming up next. Uh. Big update on the shadiest pool I've ever

thrown, the shadiest gambling pool I've ever thrown involving this star athlete. Plus we'll tell you who won the Twitter and Instagram giveaway from at tickets Next to nice, I have a wonder free