Intentional Grounding (Saints v. Bears)

I don't really have a problem with either of the grounding calls against Drew Brees. It would be hard to argue against them because, by rule, they were both intentional grounding. The problem I have is with the inconsistency of the enforcement of that rule. On an fairly inconsequential 3rd down incompletion on a screen pass by Rex Grossman, Grossman was forced to get rid of the ball by pressure in his face. The ball wasn't anywhere near "intended receiver" Thomas Jones. The ball fell at the feet of a couple linemen out on the edge looking to block. There was a penalty flag thrown. Unfortunately, the call was holding (not a loss of down). That's fine. Call holding. But, call the obvious intentional grounding as well. Quarterbacks should know when intentional grounding is going to be enforced. The officials need to be consistent for the playing field to be level.

While I'm on the subject of inconsistent application of rules, Rex Grossman obviously signalled for a timeout in the first half. The problem was that the Bears had just called timeout. Thus, it should have been a penalty against Chicago. The announcers said that the officials ignored Grossman because they're really only concerned with that play on kicks. Well, the rule should be enforced how it is written. If the rule maker only wanted to make the rule applicable for when a team was going to kick a FG, they could have written the rule that way. Apparently, that's not how it's written.

As I watch Reggie Bush just slip and lose his footing and fall out of bounds, I can't help but wonder if the outcome of the game would have been different (a) if it wasn't cold and snowing and/or (b) if the footing wasn't awful. The game reminded me a lot of the two losses by the Colts at NE. Are these really the conditions we want the most important games of the football season played in? It wouldn't be my preference. I don't have any problem with home field advantage, but these conditions aren't conducive to good football. It is similar to baseball games being played in the northern midwest and northeast during the late fall. You play most the season in sunny weather and then the most important games are played under vastly different conditions. It's almost as asinine as waiting a month and a half before playing the last, and most important, game of the season (college football).

And, in a follow-up to a previous post, I still think the Saints were the better team at this point in the season. They didn't take care of the ball and they were hurt by a few penalties (which were few and far between, especially those called against Chicago). While both teams have to play under the same conditions, I think the Saints were impacted more by the environmental factors than the Bears. The Bears won't have that advantage in the Super Bowl two weeks from now.