I can't believe the NFL Network can't get anyone better than Gumbel. He's pompous and worse yet, he makes way too many mistakes.
Sure enough, last night he referred to Frank Gore as Al Gore. But his biggest miscue came late in the game when he totally blew the play involving a pass from Carson Palmer to Chad Johnson. Palmer threw a pass to Johnson in the end zone that Johnson caught (albeit with a slight bobble), got both feet in, then had the ball come loose as he hit the ground out of bounds. Marvin Lewis challenged, which Gumbel blasted saying the ball came loose. First off, all Cincy had to lose was 1 timeout (and they never got the ball back anyways). Second, Lewis wasn't challenging on the ball coming lose when Johnson hit the ground. He was challenging whether Johnson had possession when the second foot was in bounds. There was a slight bobble, and I do mean slight; without that slight bobble, what happens when Johnson hit the ground is totally irrelevant because the instant the second foot came down in the end zone, the play becomes dead because it is a touchdown. No, there was just enough of a bobble to not make it possible to overturn the call, but had they ruled it a touchdown originally, I don't think it would've gotten overturned, either. Seen that play called a touchdown many times over the years.
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