Jerome Boger was making his first appearance as referee in the Super Bowl and some, including anonymous officials, questioned his qualifications for working this game.
But I’m happy to say Boger and his crew did a commendable job.
It was a relatively penalty-free game (49ers had five, Ravens had two), and while there are always a few plays in question, the biggest play that had 49ers fans screaming came late in the game.
Here was the situation: The 49ers had the ball, fourth-and-goal from the Baltimore 5-yard line with 1:50 left in the game. Baltimore led, 34-29.
Colin Kaepernick lofted a pass to Michael Crabtree, who was being guarded by Jimmy Smith. Both players were hand fighting and when you look at this play in real time, there’s not enough to call pass interference against either player. Smith had a quick grab and Crabtree had a quick push-off. Smith went down on the play and the pass fell incomplete.
Crabtree never complained and it’s the type of play where a flag thrown against either team would have, in my mind, created more controversy than a decision not to throw the flag.
By the way, it couldn’t be defensive holding because the pass was in the air when the contact occurred. It’s either offensive pass interference or defensive pass interference.
It was not an obvious foul and until I looked at it in slow motion, it seemed like no foul at all. It’s not a penalty I would want called if I were still vice president of officiating for the NFL.
Mike Pereira is Fox’s NFL rules analyst
