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Gibbs Says Officials Missed Several Calls
Pierson Prioleau (20) was ruled to have pushed Joey Galloway out of bounds; the wideout was given a 34-yard gain. Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs disputes the call.
(By Toni L. Sandys -- The Washington Post)
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Gibbs said he planned to submit a copy of Tampa Bay wide receiver Joey Galloway's 34-yard reception, which went to the 3 and set up the Buccaneers' first touchdown, to the NFL as well. Galloway had just one foot in bounds on the play, but officials ruled that safety Pierson Prioleau had pushed Galloway out, making it a completion. Gibbs said film indicates Prioleau never made contact. That play is not subject to a coach's challenge during the game.
Gibbs also said Tampa Bay cornerback Juran Bolden pulled wide receiver Santana Moss's jersey before making an interception, which would be an illegal contact penalty.
Numerous Redskins players maintained that the game should have never come down to the final conversion, however, attributing the loss to Washington's three turnovers, a failure to get a first down in the final minutes to run out the clock, an inability to stop Tampa Bay's offense on key third downs and a propensity to allow big plays on defense. The Redskins (5-4) have dropped four of their last six games and have the NFL's second-worst turnover differential (minus-11).
"You can't put the onus on the officials when you lose ballgames because there are too many plays left out there we could have made," safety Matt Bowen said.
"It should have never come down to being that close, that's the bottom line," Arrington said. "I'm not even going to criticize them one way or the other. It's always going to be a biased opinion, depending which way the call goes."
Tackle Jon Jansen said: "If we get a first down the game is over. It's pretty easy to state and you can't always count on those things [replay decisions] to go your way."
Gibbs stopped short of sharing those exact sentiments. "You'd like to say, 'Well, we don't want it to come down to that,' " he said. "But to be quite truthful, up here it can come down to that."
However, the Hall of Fame coach said he supports the replay system. Coaches did not have the option to challenge plays during Gibbs's initial tenure with the team -- the replay review system began in 1999 -- and he feels it is a beneficial tool.
"Certainly if we didn't have it, I'd really be concerned because at least this way if there's something that's obvious, anyway, we're going to get an overturn on it," Gibbs said. "So I feel pretty good about the fact we can do those things."
