Raiders’ Del Rio: NFL ref Steratore first-down smirk ‘hard to take’
ALAMEDA, Calif. — If time heals all wounds, forgive Jack Del Rio.
One day wasn’t enough.
A touchdown negated by a flag he considered faulty. A fourth-and-1 conversion measured with the help of a folded index card. A first-down ruling despite visible space between the football and first-down marker. And then, there was that muffled grin from referee Gene Steratore as he stepped away from his paper trail.
“How you can look at that and then get up with a smirk, I don’t know,” Del Rio said. “That’s hard to take.”
The Raiders coach remained dissatisfied Monday with certain officiating aspects to Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. He said an offensive pass interference penalty on tight end Jared Cook during a second-quarter touchdown was “disappointing” — a defensive holding should’ve been the call, he added. His feelings toward the index-card conversion followed suit.
Del Rio met with reporters shortly after 3 p.m.
He still had yet to speak to the league office, he said, for an explanation on the measurement that followed quarterback Dak Prescott’s dive over the middle. The play came at a critical juncture in the game. Had Prescott been ruled short, the Raiders would have gained possession at Dallas’ 39-yard line with about five minutes remaining and the score tied at 17.
Because of the call, the Cowboys’ drive continued and culminated with the go-ahead field goal.
“I’m sure there will be some kind of explanation, but whatever it is, I’m going to disagree with it,” Del Rio said. “I know what I saw. I saw it myself from the sideline. But I also saw plenty examples on Twitter. The guy ran out there with the camera and put the (NBC) camera right down on it, so the whole world got to see what it was. It’s not like we’re making something up. …
“I saw space, and I was like, ‘All right, they just made a big error going for it right there, and this is a turning point. It’s four (minutes) and change in the game, and we’ve got the ball on the 40 going the other way. That was pretty ballsy and it really didn’t work.’ Except they got the fortuitous reaction from the crew.”
Steratore offered an explanation shortly after the game.
Or maybe the response was too murky to be considered an explanation.
“Didn’t use the card to make the final decision,” Steratore said. “The final decision was made visually. The card was used nothing more than a reaffirmation of what was visually done. My decision was visually done based on the look from the pole.”
Television images from the NBC broadcast were widely circulated on the internet. They appear to show some distance between the football and first-down marker, which is what elicited strong reaction from Del Rio and some of his players in the locker room Sunday and on social media afterward.
One side of the folded paper touched the football. The other side did not.
Reactions on Twitter included those from punter Marquette King and cornerback Antonio Hamilton.
“Soooo are we using the front of the folded piece of paper or the back???” King wrote.
Wrote Hamilton: “My grandpa could see that this was clearly a turnover on downs and he is legally blind…(completely blind in one eye and other one barely works)… I’m salty so what lol.”
Del Rio, to his credit, did not contest every consequential officiating decision Sunday. He concurred that linebacker Xavier Woodson-Luster should’ve been flagged for holding on wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson’s 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He also didn’t protest that wide receiver Michael Crabtree was removed from the game in the final minute to be evaluated for a concussion.
The Raiders had a play call designed for Crabtree. His absence changed it. Quarterback Derek Carr attempted to scramble for a touchdown but fumbled near the goal line and through the end zone, causing a touchback.
“You know you have to do the right thing for all of the players and their safety,” Del Rio said.
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GehlkenNFL on Twitter.
