Q: Can you comment on any of the calls against the Colts in recent weeks?
A: Let me just discuss the calls I can discuss. The leaping call (against Dallas) was a good call. The disconcerting signals call, I don’t know what was called, so I can’t comment on that. The fifth down (call against Jacksonville Sunday) I will explain, because Duke Carroll and Red Cashion, who were he supervisors at the game Sunday, were kind enough to explain it to (Vice President and General Manager) Chris (Polian) and I, and (referee) Mike Carey explained it to (Colts Head Coach) Jim Caldwell. That was a perfect example of what John Teerlinck, our great defensive line coach, calls, ‘Good, good, bad.’ You did two things well and one thing didn’t work out quite as well.’ When there is a false start, it is the responsibility of the referee to shut the play down. You could have injury situations, particularly the quarterbacks and to other players, that we do not want. It’s the referee’s job to shut the play down on a false start. Mike did that. You could not hear his whistle, and no one on the field heard his whistle because it was so loud. And let me add here, when we’re passing out kudos, game ball to the fans. What a great job. Because they were so loud and so fired up, no one could hear anything. Mike shut the play down and so it was, ‘No Play,’ even though the result was we had stopped them and we were going to get the ball. A wing official came in and said to Mike that there was some reason to pick up the flag. I have no idea what that reason was and have not been told by the league office what it is. I’m sure we will be told and it’s not within my purview to tell you even if I knew, but I don’t know. What happened was Mike did exactly the right thing by shutting the play down. The wing official saw something that caused Mike to pick the flag up. We don’t know what it was. Then, Mike correctly applied the rule and said, ‘This is a situation where the play was in fact a dead-ball situation, so there is no play.’ They got what looked like a fifth down when in reality it wasn’t. They applied the rule and the mechanics correctly. Why the flag was picked up your guess is as good as mine. I don’t know.
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