The hit yesterday was a hit to the head but it wasn't an especially egregious one...basically the top of the defender's helmet hit Reilly in the face mask. Watch it at full speed (like the officials) and it would look like a hit to the chest/upper body. Can't be too mad at them for missing that.
The Esks depending on a borderline headshot penalty to get half the distance to the goal line on a sack no less certainly doesn't mean they were screwed out of a tie or a win. I mean it was a sack on third down. Far different from let's say a non-call on pass interference in the end zone where the receiver would have clearly caught it if not for interference by the defender.
Maas has no control over his emotions and it cost him. He immediately threw the challenge flag in response to the receiver's call for one on the failed attempt at a TD a play or two before the head shot. Based on the angles we saw there was no way it was a PI. Maas refused to wait until he had word from upstairs that there was a legit PI on the play... he just based his decision on emotion. Incredibly stupid and that kind of attitude has no place in coaching ranks.
The offensive PI call on the review was the correct call as well. It was so obvious yet Maas was too much of a whiner to admit it...it is clear as day in the video.
Esks certainly did not deserve the win...not when they give up all nearly 200 yards to Wilder on a measly 11 carries. Toronto outgained Esks by 70 yards as well. Injuries have caught up to Edmonton these past several weeks and it's a testament to their depth that they were able to pull off 7 straight wins early on. Eventually though, something has to give, and when the Esks had 20 players injured, things went south in a hurry. As they team brings some players back from injuries the results may turn around for them. Right now, they should be very concerned about the surging Riders.
This is an interesting point. I'll elaborate below.
Bud Steen was on Edmonton radio again today, apologizing on behalf of the CFL for awful officiating for the second week in a row. He had some interesting comments:
-The command center can only see replays provided to them by TSN. By the sounds of it, they only had one particular angle and it didn't show conclusively that Duke William's had his facemask grabbed on the non-call. But the host of the radio show did have an angle that a listener sent to him (from a recording of the game on TV it is assumed) that clearly shows a hand to the face, and Steen agreed that it should have been overturned. So why the hell are only certain angles being provided to the command center by the TSN truck? At best it's incompetent, at worst it's extremely shady.
-The CFL is in the process of training new personnel to work the command center. Without coming right out and saying it, Steen basically implied that the idiots they have doing it now are going to be fired. This raises a couple of questions. Just who IS in the command center right now? I had assumed it to be former officials, which would only make sense, but there was no hint given that it actually is. The second question would be, what sort of "training" do the prospective replacements need? Is the CFL just pulling random people off the street and trying to teach them how to apply the rules on video reviews? Seems like a person who has spent an extensive amount of time involved in Canadian football would be largely qualified on that basis alone, and there's no reason the CFL should be seeking out anyone who doesn't fit that criteria. Steen didn't elaborate on what exactly the training process is, but it seems odd that some (seemingly) lengthy process is needed.