Penalty Flag thrown on Hochuli

Dan Loumena from the Los Angeles Times made a recent report on NFL referee, Ed Hochuli. This guy has been refereeing in the NFL since 1990 and I've been watching him ever since. However, there does come a time when one needs to step back and evaluate performance which I'm sure they do all the time.

I was watching the Broncos/ Chargers game two weeks ago. Broncos QB Jay Cutler dropped back to pass and the ball slipped from his hand while he was raising his arm. No big deal huh? The Chargers then recovered the "alleged" fumble which is the logical choice but Hochuli ruled it an incomplete pass by blowing the ball dead. This was clearly an error on Hochuli's part which he later admitted that it was the wrong call. This "wrong call" allowed Denver to retain possession, scored a touchdown, get the two-point conversion and presto, WIN the game. Chargers head coach Norv Turner later voiced his disgust for this call.

Well this weekend it hit a little closer to home. Hochuli made another questionable call when he called Carolina's Julius Peppers for a "roughing the passer" penalty which wiped out Carolina's CB Richard Marshall's interception TD return in the first quarter against the Atlanta Falcons. This call erased the touchdown and gave the Falcons a first down on a drive which luckily ended in a punt. A replay later showed that Peppers hit Ryan as he released the ball and appeared to make contact first with his shoulder.

How many more bad calls do we have to see this season before the NFL takes notice?