Officiating gaffes strain ability to suspend disbelief

Watch the replay and you'll note that the game clock was slow to begin on the 26-yard pass play. Atlanta fans -- I've read your message boards -- are saying the game clock had more like 6.75 seconds left, which mathematically explains the apparent delay between the snap and the first movement of the clock. Atlanta fans aren't lying. They're just seeing what they want to see. But they're wrong. The clock was slow to start, and that extra second (or two) was the difference between a win and a loss. Indefensible.

At Washington, the Rams trailed 17-16 with 38 seconds left but were poised to win it with a short field goal when an official made the most incredible call of the weekend -- a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call on St. Louis offensive lineman Richie Incognito that moved the ball back to the Redskins' 31. Suddenly a chip shot was going to be a 49-yarder. And why? What did Incognito do to draw such an enormous penalty at such a critical juncture?

He cussed.

You've got to be #$*% kidding me.

Players curse 20 times a game. Thirty times. Maybe 40. An official simply cannot finally call that penalty in that situation. Simply cannot. Luckily for Incognito, and the officiating crew, Rams kicker Josh Brown made the 49-yarder to give St. Louis a 19-17 victory.

But that call was indefensible, even more so than the indefensible calls that cost Detroit and Chicago victories.

A year ago, I would have received e-mails from fans of those teams, demanding an official CBS investigation into the officiating crews. A year ago, I would have laughed off those e-mails as nonsense.

This week, when I get those e-mails, I won't laugh. Post-Tim Donaghy, nothing seems funny.