Lions coach Jim Schwartz said all the right things in the aftermath of last Sunday’s controversial call on Calvin Johnson’s catch that wiped out a go-ahead touchdown for Detroit.
For instance, there’s what the coach said on his Twitter account:
Unfortunately, the way the rule is written and officiated, it was ruled an incompletion.
At his press conference the next day, Schwartz refused to get baited into arguing whether the rule that took away Johnson’s catch was open to interpretation:
“I’m sure the league would argue that, and they would say it’s clear-cut and the officials made the right call,” he said. “But again, that’s not up for us as players and coaches. With you and the media, that’s fine. You guys, fans, discuss it at length.”
Maybe Schwartz didn’t want to risk upsetting the NFL, in hopes the league might make some sort of ruling in the Lions’ favor. After a couple of days to stew over the play, however, Schwartz is a bit more bold on the matter.
Here’s what he said to 97.1 Wednesday morning:
“I mean I leave what goes on in our locker room in our locker room. But everybody knows that it was a catch. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at that and say it was a catch. Now, it’s also ruled an incompletion because of the rule. I think if 100 people look at it, 100 people say, ‘Yeah, Calvin caught that ball.’ Calvin made a great play on that play. Shaun made a great throw, Calvin made a great play. That stands. There’s no way that you can take that away from him other than a technicality in the rulebook.”
Actually, that basically echoes what Schwartz said on Monday, as quoted by Tom Kowalski, but most of the furor was over the NFL rulebook and whether changes need to be made.
You can listen to the interview in its entirety here.
(via Pro Football Talk)