Raiders coach Art Shell has been hesitant to criticize officials this season because his experience in the NFL office gave him a deeper understanding why certain calls are made.
On a few occasions, Shell has even taken the officials' side after one of his Oakland players criticized a call. It's a big change from the days when the Raiders seemed to think every close call that didn't go their way was part of a league-wide conspiracy.
But Shell did not hold back in his comments about a game-changing call in Oakland's 17-13 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
``I saw it and I felt we got screwed,'' Shell said Monday. ``I felt we got a bad call.''
With the Raiders leading 13-7 late in the third quarter, Denver's David Kircus fumbled a punt return at the Broncos 20 and Stuart Schweigert recovered the ball.
As the Raiders were celebrating, referee Bill Leavy called a personal foul on Oakland's Chris Carr for running out of bounds on the coverage.
After watching the film, Shell said he didn't think the Broncos gave Carr a chance to get back onto the field after being blocked out of bounds. He called to complain to Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating, and expected to hear back later in the week.
``The rule states you must be allowed to come back in,'' Shell said. ``They didn't let him come back in. He tried twice to get back in, and then once he came in, all of a sudden a flag came down. I thought it was a bad call. Should never have been called and it changed the game. That was a big play in the game for us. It was a fumble. It would have been a big recovery for us.''
Leavy said after the game that field judge Rob Vernatchi ruled Carr was knocked out of bounds, faked coming back in, ran for about five more yards, and then returned to the field, leading to the penalty.
``Make every effort to come back 'immediately,' is the wording in the book,'' Leavy said. ``And he didn't come back, in that field judge's opinion, immediately. He ran parallel to the line for approximately five yards.''
Carr said it's a penalty he's never seen in his two years in the NFL. He said the call could have gone either way, but that he should have gotten back inbounds sooner. He said it didn't cost Oakland the game.
``It's not like the guy returned the next punt for a touchdown. We need to stop them,'' Carr said. ``You can always look at something like, 'that really cost you' or 'this cost you.' But there were so many plays in that game that you could say that.''
After a second punt, Denver took over at its 40 and drove for the go-ahead score.
Shell also disputed a call on an apparent interception by Fabian Washington in the fourth quarter. Washington appeared to get both feet inbounds, but Leavy said there wasn't enough evidence on instant replay to overturn the call.
The play came on third down, so the Broncos had to punt anyway. So it only cost the Raiders a few yards and a timeout.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
