I guess this is some kind of replay karma, right Washington?

It was easy to overlook this considering how much was going on in the game, but the catch by Rashied Davis which set up the game winning field goal in overtime may not have been a catch. Davis bobbles the ball, it looks like the ball touches the ground, honestly there's a fifty-fifty chance it was not a catch. (You can find a YouTube clip here.)



Normally in overtime it is up to the booth call for a review. Which the booth did. Except the pager system for the refs on the field didn't work. Which means the NFL never reviewed the play in question.

Gruden's not happy this, not that I blame him. The Bucs got bent over and violated by the NFL, and not in that whiny Seahawks-in-the-Super-Bowl, we-still-would-have-lost-way. This was an evenly fought game that was not decided until late in over time (which, by the way, scares me about the Bears Super Bowl chances if they had this much trouble with the lowly Bucs).

And while it sucks that the Bucs were robbed because of a faulty piece of machinery, I'm sure Lions and Redskins fans feel as though this is some kind of karmic pay back for last's seasons losses at the hands of replay. Although, it's worth pointing out that in both those situations the system worked like it should have, both machinery- and rules-wise. For reasons I've explained at length, the Lions late touchdown catch was not a catch or a touchdown. And the Alstott touchdown against the 'Skins could have been called either way, the cameras didn't have a good shot of the ball. (And interesting side angle to that is listening to 'Skins fans describe why Alstott was not in and have their theories sound positively "there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll"-esque. It's scary how much thought they have put into where Alstott's elbow was on that play.)

Finally, let me be clear....the Bears deserved to win. The Bears are the more talented team, and the Bucs had some lucky breaks go their way which got them back into the game. This isn't a post bitching about how the Bears stole a win from the Bucs. Instead, consider it a post bitching about how a broken system robbed the Bucs of justice.