Originally Posted by
Shan'do Spike
You are correct: this was an incorrect call. You also fumbled two plays later.
I'm snipping the rest of this, because it's the whining I've been reading since the game ended. Two points here. Firstly, the facemask came very clearly after the fumble. Even if it had been called, it would have been the Cardinals ball, just backed up. Do you really think your defense stops the Cardinals at that point?
Secondly, let me pull the facemask definition out of the NFL rulebook for you:
The last part is the important part. Even if he grabbed the facemask (he did), incidental facemask grabbing is not a penalty unless there's some form of twist, turn, or pull, which there's no real evidence of. Watch the angle Adams comes in at: he doesn't have any sort of angle to do a twist or pull, because he's coming in at a 90 degree angle to the way Rodgers is facing. What you really want called is the incidental facemask penalty, which got removed in 2008. Now, all facemasks that are called have to be 15 yards, but touching the facemask is no longer an instant penalty.
But seriously, if you want to blame someone, try blaming your defense for not being able to cover our fourth-string receiver. Anyone who has ever played sports knows that calls even out over the course of a game, and blaming the refs is always a weak excuse.