AP

Former NFL referee Mike Carey said during the CBS broadcast of the Colts-Broncos game that Colts punt returner Josh Cribbs had muffed a punt and the Broncos had recovered. Then the referee, in conjunction with NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino, looked at the replay and ruled that Cribbs had possession of the ball and was down by contact before he lost it.

So how did Carey get that call wrong? According to Carey, he didn’t.

Carey said on Inside the NFL that the replay review was wrong, and that Cribbs never had possession of the punt. Carey said that under NFL rules, the process of Cribbs getting possession of a punt is the same as the process of Dez Bryant getting possession of a pass, and that just as Bryant had to maintain possession of the ball while going to the ground as we all saw in the Cowboys-Packers game, Cribbs had to maintain possession of the ball while going to the ground later on the same day.

“There’s no difference between the Dez Bryant play and the Josh Cribbs play,” Carey said. “There was not enough there for possession, which means control, two feet down, and if you’re going to the ground, maintain control when you hit the ground.”

Carey said there’s no doubt in his mind that Cribbs muffed the punt.

“The rulebook is clear. He did not have control, two feet down, and when he hit the ground maintain control,” Carey said. “Everybody makes mistakes, and I make them too, but in this case, anybody who watches this — the criteria for making a catch was not there. The league made a mistake.”

That play had the potential to be a big one, as it would have given the Broncos the ball at the Colts’ 30-yard line. But while Broncos fans will be particularly upset about that ruling, all NFL fans should be concerned about the fact that a former NFL referee can look at the same replay as a current head of officiating and come to a different conclusion about how to properly apply the rules. That means that either the NFL was employing a referee who doesn’t understand the rules, or the NFL is employing a head of officiating who doesn’t understand the rules, or the NFL rulebook is so complex that even the professionals can’t always understand the rules.