Walt Anderson admits OPI in Panthers-Bucs may have been incorrect call

Every Sunday, NFL officiating spokesperson Walt Anderson gets a sliver of air time to talk about any/all controversial calls from the prior seven days. This week, Anderson's small slice of real estate focused on one call — the controversial offensive pass interference penalty that wiped out 42 yards of field position in the Panthers-Buccaneers game.

We broke down the play, based on the relevant provision of the publicly-available rulebook, earlier this morning. Panthers receiver Tetairoa McMillan was flagged not for anything that happened while the ball was in the air, but for what he did to fight off a jam within the permissible five-yard chuck zone.

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Initially, Anderson seemed to be providing the predictable, water-carrying position that McMillan veered from a permissible effort to knock the defender's arms away and shoved the defender's body or head. (Such subtleties don't appear within the official rulebook.)

To his credit, Steve Mariucci then put Anderson on the spot: "What's the correct call on this play?"

"It's really, really close," Anderson said. "It looks like he's knocking the arm off, which would not be pass interference."

Anderson added that the official who threw the flag apparently concluded that McMillan pushed the defensive back in the head.

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Even if McMillan did, the topic is not expressly covered within the official rulebook. Before the pass is thrown, an offensive player may not "block" more than a yard beyond the line of scrimmage. There's nothing in the rulebook about what an offensive player can and can't do to get away from a defensive back who has five yards to hit the receiver in an effort to disrupt his route.

Again, it's possible that there's some separate provision in the "Approved Rulings" or other documentation that specifies what a receiver can or can't do when fighting off a jam. But it's not in the rulebook. When the ball has yet to be thrown, the rulebook only says the offensive player can't "block" more than a yard from the line of scrimmage.

It seems like something sufficiently important to be added to the rulebook itself. We know the defensive back has a five-yard window to hit the receiver. The rulebook needs to say, with clarity, what the receiver can do beyond one yard to fend off the defender.

With all that said, and even if the separate rule Anderson cited is commonly applied, Anderson acknowledged that a mistake may have been made.

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Meanwhile, the controversy from the Panthers-Bucs game regarding the blown handling of a backward pass was not addressed. The play entailed an error by the officials on the field, and a failure by the officials, the replay assistant, and the league office to properly administer the aftermath.

The Panthers should have been able to re-do the play, first and 10 from the Tampa Bay 34. Instead, the Panthers ended up with second and 17 from the 41 — in a drive that ended with a field-goal attempt that came up short.

So, yes, the Panthers and their fans have two reasons to be pissed off today. If the Saints beat the Falcons and the Bucs, not the Panthers, win the NFC South, that anger will only intensify.