Referee from Pittsburgh explains fumble ruling

Referee Gene Steratore spoke to the pool reporter about today's controversial call that was the difference in score between the Dolphins and Pittsburgh. The Steelers won, 23-22 on a field goal made possible when they kept the football following what looked like a fumble in the end zone that was recovered by Miami's Ikaika Alama-Francis.

The refs initially called the play a TD. Then they overturned the TD and said it was a fumble. But they didn't complete the job by giving the ball to Miami.

"Naturally, the ruling on the field was a touchdown by Pittsburgh," Steratore said. "After review it was confirmed in replay the ball did come loose and it was a fumble prior to the ball breaking the goal line. That's where we go into the second aspect of that. In order to overturn this and give another team the football, I have to have clear video evidence of that team recovering the fumble. So when a little short segment of what I said out there. That is what I explained. We did have a fumble, but we did not have video evidence and a confirmation on who recovered the football so we changed an aspect of the play by not awarding Pittsburgh the touchdown. Miami is not charged a time out because we changed an aspect of that play, but we could not award the defense in this situation the football because we don't have video evidence of the defense recovering the ball."

Steratore said officials could not determine who recovered the ball because, "it is a pile of bodies in there and you don't have a clear recovery."

Asked again by he could not determine who recovered the ball, he said, "We confirmed that there was a fumble and we not able to confirm a clear recovery by the defense."

Steratore, by the way, was born in Washington, PA., which is 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh. He still lives and has a business in the region.

Comments

[Keith]

Henne and Henning both suck. Let's talk about the draft already since we'll be probably be picking in the 10-15 range.

[aurress20]

"Naturally, the ruling on the field was a touchdown by Pittsburgh,"

Ummm...What? Naturally? As in "I wanted Pittsburgh to get in the end zone, so i saw what I wanted to see and I called a TD"??? What is this guy saying?

[Po White Trash]

We can hold our heads high.

[Flattened Phin Fan]

I've never seen a game stolen so blatantly by the refs. Unbelievable, the NFL is really and truly fixed for the "chosen ones". Does this call ever go against the Steelers or the Patriots?

[James]

This call was worse than the tuck rule. Absolutely ridiculous. If 2 dolphins fall on top of the ball on the ground then are touched by a Pittsburgh player the ball is dead right? So who comes out of the pile with the ball doesn't matter. How can this be any clearer? I watched this game with three non dolphin fans all of whom were amazed at the call. It was clearly a fix and those officials should be fined suspended or terminated.

[Brian in NJ]

"Naturally, since I'm from the Pittsburgh area, it was initially a Steelers touchdown. After the fumble, however, I didn't bother looking to see who recovered and just decided to give possession back to my hometown team."

[Kris]

"Naturally" WTF!!!!!

[Po White Trash]

Hold your heads high, we are young dumb and full of c*m. Wait till next year....

[aurress20]

That ref has to be fined. Has to be suspended. The NFL is culpable here. You absolutely cannot have home town refs deciding a game. If you have the resources to fly a Pittsburgh based ref to Miami, then you have the resources to fly him to a west coast game where there is no bias.

[Marc]

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH...

We lose, again, still, whatever

It almost gets less painful every year. I barely even yell at the TV anymore.

This is what no hope feels like

[aurress20]

Mando, any report on what Sporano had to say in his Presser?

[Yann]

- poor play calling (awful in the last drive)
- Sapp and Clemons awful in pass coverage. Sapp's missed tackle on Ward cost us a TD (instead of a FG) and the game
- Ronnie Brown poor running
- bad special teams play
- 3 trips in the red zone, 3FG, and we target Marshall (perhaps the best jump ball guy in the NFL) just once ?

There was no evidence we recovered the fumble. The rule sucks but that is not the reason why we lost.

[finfaned]

the vudeo evidence us that u believe ine if the officals signaled Miami ball!!!!

[finnyfinatic]

We had the ball with 2:26 left only needing a FG and we couldn't even get a first down. They called it correctly but we blew it with plenty of time.

[Po White Trash]

Damn Marc, maybe we can get Cam back. Get a grip dude. If you want to whine, whine about the Jets and Pats loss, not this one.

[Johnterry]

The ref blew it. But so did the Dolphins. All the trips to the red zone should have resulted in more than one TD.

And come on Armando. That's bushleague to insinuate that the ref was partial.

[finfaned]

damn i hate typing on ths phone sometimes.

what i meant to say was. the video evidence is that one of the officals signaled Miami ball i believe.

[gary]

thank armando for giving us his name and address

[Marc]

I'll COMPLAIN about ANY loss, this loss, that loss, ALL LOSSES

If you like rooting for perennial losers, that's great

[AJB]

They're able to determine possession on dogpiles in any other game situation because they follow it through all the way. That's what they needed to do in that situation. They didn't because of the call on the field, but that's garbage. The ball comes loose. As officials, you need to determine where the possession arrow points in the event that there is a challenge and the play is overturned. Period.

[aurress20]

finfaned, agreed. had to move over to laptop b/c iphone was not cooperating in the app.

[AJB]

Oh yeah, and the fact that he lives near Pittsburgh isn't fair to throw in there.

[Po White Trash]

We are young and VERY physical, wait till we get some experience.

[aurress20]

AJB, you're right! I've been saying that ever since the play occurred.

[Darryl Dunphy]

Armando, are you saying that where the ref lives had a part in his decision making? The call was bizzare, and I believe that we got shafted. But that wasn't the reason we lost this game. Think about it. Even if we get the ball on the 20. there is 2:47 left. Most likely we run it into the line 3 times and Pitt gets the ball back and has a chance to kick a fg to win. Now we will never know how the game gets played out. But we had our own opportunities, and just could not convert.

[Francisco]

Ok Henning sucks we need a new O Coordinator, there I said it, now having said that, the refs stole this game from us; it was clear the Phins had the ball and its awfully strange the amoung of good fortune the Steelers have... Their starting QB gets charded with Rape but only gets suspended 8 weeks (or 6 whatever) but then his sentence gets reduced... then he fumbles the ball but "Oh my" sure he lost it sure the other team recover it, well the f&$k with the rules lets just give them another try at the HALF YARD LINE! If the nfl wnats to keep suspicions out of the game then they should not put home town refs calling games... This sucks!!!

[Po White Trash]

What ever makes ya happy Marc, I for one like how we played against the BEST team in the league.

[aurress20]

Oh yeah, and the fact that he lives near Pittsburgh isn't fair to throw in there.

Posted by: AJB | October 24, 2010 at 05:22 PM

Not fair to throw in there? You mean its not fair of the NFL to throw that ref into a Pittsburgh game to ref? Yea, i'm sure thats what you meant to say.

[FinFan]

How did the ref possible call that a TD in the first place???? The ball was completely shielded from him and was immediately on the ground. THAT'S THE QUESTION WE SHOULD BE ASKING !!!

[test]

we lost due to morono and henning's conservative garbage play calling.

thats it

only bad teams blame the refs...it looks like many of you are doing just that.

[ALoco]

the REFEREE IS A RAPIST FROM PIT .HE LIKES THE PIT TEAM .

[HeHateJets]

Honestly a total team melt down at the end. The end zone thing just woulda been good luck.... We take the lead. Then the special ten allows a long run back..... Then the defense gives up a 3 minute drive to allow for the game winning fg.... Then the offense gets the ball in time to score but turns into the keystone cops...... We're actually a worse team than we were 3 yrs ago and that stems from the gm (parcels/Ireland).... He over sees draft picks and the coaching staff..... Ireland won't Fire sporano cuz they are buddies. Oh and yes the refs do suck sumthin aweful

[Marc]

I'm done with this...Time to get laid. Enjoy talking about the positives, the "What ifs", and the IMPROBABLE likihood of our team making the playoffs.

PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFF?!

Is this owner so out of touch he actually predicted a SB win?

Brandon Marshall, the $50 million dollar man

[NWFLPhinsfan]

http://www.sportsgrid.com/nfl/steelers-dolphins-fumble-video/

Miami football! NFL=ripoff

[killerdolphin]

WE GOT ROBBED!!!!!!!!

[Mike]

Again......Hypocrite NFL.........Bet they dont think twice about the crooked officiating you just saw....Maybe if someone hit him in the head......LOL

[eddy007]

okay we lost, by the ref and not playing the 2 minute drill correct, but over all we played a great fought game and should have won. we should take this game as a step in the right direction, we played a great team one of the top team in the league and we can play and win against the best. if only the refs were play fair

[ALoco]

A QUESTION , HOW THE LEAGUE APPOINT A REFEREE FROM PIT IN A GAME INVOLVE THEIR TEAM ?

SECOND QUESTION, IS THE REFEREE WAS CONVICTED IN ANY PAST CRIMES AS RAPE ?

[Kris]

YANN,

No eveidence except for the FACT that FRANCIS comes out of the pile holding it up....

I am so tired of you DUMB A S S \, FAKE A S S stuiped FU^^ks on here.

Go troll somewhere else...This blog is for FIN FANS.....

THATS FOR YOU AS WELL BILL.......

[NWFLPhinsfan]

Dolphins jumped on the ball in the endzone and Francis gets up with the ball. What else does the Pittsburgh suburbanite ref need to see?

[mrmrjohnson]

The Yankees get every call from the umps in baseball.
The Lakers get every call from the refs in the NBA.
and the Steelers get every call from the refs in the NFL.

That call reminded me of the Steelers/Seahawks Super Bowl where the NFL determined the outcome before the start of the game. They just refused to let Seattle win. ESPN did a segment where there where 10 controversial calls in that SB and every single one of them went towards the Steelers. I really think the NFL tries to reward certain teams. The Steelers have a history and loyal fans, so the NFl gives them calls to help them win. It's just not possible that that chance would Pittsburg as the beneficiary of every bad call on a big play.

It's tough to be one opponent in the NFL. It's nearly impossible to beat two. The Dolphins lost to the refs and the Steelers today.

Figures that this guy's actually from Pittsburg. I don't know why they didn't determine who came up with the football after the play was over. The whistle didn't blow. It was close enough that they should have let it play out.

[dolfanSF]

ridiculous. The refs basically just walk away from the pile and assumed the TD. terrible.

with that said, we have alot of problems on this team. year 3 of this rebuilding process and we should be able to win some of these big games at home. 0-3 against AFC contenders @ home.

[billdacman]

excuses are like A holes, everyone has one and nobody wants to hear yours. Couldn't get a first down when we needed one, simple as that.

[ALoco]

IS THE REFEREE A MORMON ?

[CF]

I have not ready one post, and I still can't not calm down after that game.

That was the worst call I have seen in over 20 years of watching football. They couldn't see who got the ball cause 5 Dolphins were on top of it and 1 Steeler on top of the pile. They didn't notice our guy run off the field with the ball.

Aside from that the conservative play calling has got to stop. Henne was on a roll and they run the ball to kick the go ahead filed goal, for what a 2 point lead?, that's crazy, let the kid throw, he took it down the field let him win the game

Then even when we get the ball back we run it first, then drop it? I think they were in shock at how horrible that call was

[poizen]

THAT IS WHY THE REFS IN THE NFL SUK. IT WAS CLEAR 3PHINS WERE THERE 1 st! On top of that, i am calling for Dan Hennings head, i am asking for a new o coordinator. This team on O has under performed in all home games and lost when WE had a chance to win. Take that to the bank.

[ALoco]

HE STILL HAVE A BUSUNESS IN THE REGOIN ....HIS CUSTOMERS ARE PIT FANS .......

[Tony Sparano]

First Rothie rapes the college kid with little response from the NFL and then the Refs raped the Dolphins today. You actually think the idiots at the NFL office are going to do anything? Dan Henning should be FIRED immediately. What kind of idiot calls a running play with 2 minutes to go and you haven't been able to run all day? If his ass isn't fired then Sparano's will be at the end of the season. BTW get rid of that Sapp guy that doesn't know how to tackle. My kid knows to tackle with arms and can do a better job than his ass.

[DyingBreed]

Mike Wallace 2 catches for 53yds and 1td. The td was a 53yd catch.

Some blame Henning's playcalling but thats not the problem here.

Take away Steelers lightning score(53yd Wallace catch)7pts. We still win the game. That's something we dont have.

Guarrantee you guys if we had a legit homerun pass catching threat at least 1 of the 5 field goals are a td. That would have been just enough to win the game.

[poizen]

WE pay the refe the same salary as all other sports and they play once a week, CHANGES NEED TO HAPPEN!!!

[dolfanSF]

1) Ronnie: just pound the ball, stop dancing in the back field..
2) this kick coverage is going to cost us more important games
3) lets just play Penny already if we're not go long, which i'm not advocating.

etc, etc, etc....

GO DOLPHINS!

[Kris]

I am officially on the FIRE HENNING band wagon....

but none of that takes away from the REFs screwing us. They can't/won't award us the game but this A S S hole had better be fired

[Christian]

WE WERE #!$!#!@ CHEATED!

[JaxDolphin]

Glad you didn't miss Geno's pissburg cnnection there, Armando. If they couldn't determine this fumble recovery, then how do they ever? Every fumble I ever saw had a bunch of guys jumping on it in a pile, so how do they determine it then? All I'm asking is for the pissburg ref to call the pissburg fumble the same way he would a regular one.

[aurress20]

Really hard to win a game with 11 Dolphins on the field and 15 Steelers on the field. Or however many refs their are. Are you sure those uniforms are black and white stripes and not Black and Yellow?

[feeling the pain]

The last thing that we need to do is change OC's and coaches. This is a young team and Henne as only 12+ starts.

[jamesc]

start penn ? are u high henne is fine we need a new o cord.

[Jerrypr46]

the league have to explain the ref situation. how you named a guy to ref if he lives to close to one of the teams? henning play calling sucks. now that parcells is gone, we need to evaluate our coaching staff.

[greg z.]

don't we have a "hurry-up" offense near the end of a game. it looked like a chinese fire drill trying to get lined up. sparano thinks we can win with FG's;marino and cowher disagree. you gotta punch it in! we played "not to lose", run the ball, conservative football. recipe for close losses!

[Kris]

WTF...happened to DENVER