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Regarding Belicheck's opinion on Deion's foot being out of bounds on that long pass play. His foot WAS actually out of bounds on a step made just PRIOR to the catch, not when the catch was made. One of the first replays showed this pretty clearly. Then THE "ruling" replay kept focusing on that footstep made during the catch. So I THINK that if he stepped out before the ball came to him, that Deion would be ineligible as a receiver at that time......

Great questions and answers. Only dispute I have is - getting rid of Branch for a first rounder was a GREAT move. Pay aside (his salary is laughable), if they did not have that extra first rounder that they stole from Seattle, we would have been SOL in this last draft

Mike, I think Cassell was yelling at the ref because the D was trying to call timeout and the playclock was about to run out. Cassell kept pointing at the linebacker calling for a TO.

Thanks Ken. I was unaware of that. My first thought is that Cassel should have snapped it anyway to get the 12-men-on-the-field penalty.
--Mike

Ken - good point/hadn't considered that possibility. I wondered if Cassell had actually counted and was certain of 12 men or if a voice in his ear (from upstaris?) alerted him.

But like Mike says, I'll betcha in the future he'll snap the ball if he's CERTAIN of 12. (we recall the Colts game, when BB was CERTAIN of a 12 def. on the field and lost the challenge w/ valuable 2nd half TO when the Colt's own def personnel confusion gave the appearance of 12)

In any case, these are excellent examples of how much info today's pro QB must process and correctly analyze before each and every snap of the ball.

I believe that the challenge would have to have been worded in that manner, that they were looking at his feet BEFORE the reception for it to have been ruled no catch. Perhaps the challenge was not worder properly.