justincredible;531015 wrote:I'd imagine yes. It was ruled a touchdown so they didn't sort through the pile. Given the angle that the line judge had I can't blame him for calling it a TD either.
Also, they had blown the play dead when the side judge immediately raised his hands when the ball squirted across the goal line, and that was the big mistake on the field. So even if it was clear that Miami got the ball they couldn't give them possession since it was obtained well after the whistle blew to stop play. If they allow the results of the scrum that continued after the whistle blows, then the whistle will not ever stop play as players hope that something has happened before that will allow the fruits of their continuance to stand.
Now even if the Steelers clearly recovered before any scrum would it have stood. Isn't there a rule about only the fumbling player recovering for a TD, or is that just on 4th down.
Anyway the Miami fate was pretty much sealed when the ref blew the whistle prematurely and signaled a touchdown. From that point it was either going to be a TD or the Steelers ball on the one yard line. The refs did the best they good after the whistle was blown. Very similar situation to an inadvertent whistle, in fact that what it really turned out to be! There was a similar situation in college football yesterday when a punt fair catch was muffed, but the ref assumed he'd continue to make a successful catch and blew his whistle inadvertently. Once that is done, not much can be done to correct, or more properly see what would have happened if the play had been allowed to continue as it should have.
