NFL Defends Facemasking Non-Call, Fines Bertrand Berry

Five days later, some Green Bay fans are still livid that on the play that ended the Packers' season -- the Arizona Cardinals' fumble-recovery touchdown in overtime on Sunday -- an apparent facemasking penalty by Cardinals defensive back Mike Adams was not called.

But NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira says Packers fans have no reason to be angry.

Appearing on NFL Network's Total Access this week, Pereira went over the video of the play and said that contrary to what most observers thought, Adams did not actually commit facemasking. From NFL.com:

"He's got a finger hooked on the mask," Pereira said. "It's a tough play, but it really is one of those you don't get the big look you got on the other facemasks (in that game) of the clear and obvious pull or the clear and obvious twist.

FanHouse's Matt Snyder has a detailed look at the officiating in overtime of the Packers-Cardinals game here and here, but I'll just add that even if you buy Pereira's explanation of the facemasking non-call -- and I don't buy it -- you have to admit that just a couple plays before that, the Packers got screwed when another personal foul that the Cardinals committed against Rodgers didn't get called.

That personal foul I refer to was the helmet-to-helmet hit that Cardinals defensive end Bertrand Berry put on Rodgers. And although Pereira hasn't offered any public explanation for why Berry wasn't flagged, the NFL has tacitly acknowledged that he should have been: The NFL fined Berry $5,000 for the hit.

We will, of course, never know what would have happened if overtime had been officiated properly. But I'm still hearing from Packers fans who are angry about it, and I have to admit, if I were a Packers fan I'd be angry too.