Both calls could have had a major influence on the NFL’s playoff picture.

In Sunday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons, Steelers linebacker Jason Worilds absolutely annihilated Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan with a crushing sack in the second quarter.

The play, which showed Worilds legally hitting Ryan in the chest, was flagged for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness call, advancing the ball for the Falcons and setting up a red zone situation that Ryan took advantage of three plays later on a 17-yard touchdown strike to Devin Hester.

Several hours later, in the fourth quarter of a crucial NFC West game between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks, 49ers linebacker Nick Moody was issued a personal foul for roughing the passer on what appeared to be a clean and timely hit on Russell Wilson, erasing what would have been a fourth down situation and continuing a drive that resulted in Seattle scoring the touchdown that gave them the deciding margin in their 17-7 victory.

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After the game, referee Ed Hochuli explained his call.

“I felt that he hit the quarterback in the chest with the hairline, and that’s a foul unless he has his face completely up and would hit it face on with the face mask. It’s a foul, and that’s why I called it. “I felt that he hit him with the hairline. The facemask, after you hit him, the facemask comes up. But the first thing that hit him was the hairline of the helmet. “That is still a foul when you hit the quarterback with that part of your head.”

On Monday morning, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino told the NFL Network that Hochuli screwed up the call.

“In looking at it, it was not (the correct call),” Blandino said. “The rule protects a passer from two types of hits: Hits to the head or neck, or hits with the crown or forehead, which is just below the crown part of the helmet, and that’s what the referee called. It’s close, but when you look at it on tape, Moody’s head is up, he hits with more of the side and the facemask to the body of the quarterback, and in our review, with the ability to look at it in slow motion, it’s not a foul.”

Blandino elaborated further.

“Certainly, if he doesn’t see the whole action, we don’t want him to throw the flag,” Blandino said. “Ed was getting into position and he saw him, or what he thought he saw ducking the head and making the contact, so he wouldn’t throw the flag if he didn’t see it, but it obviously happens quick, it’s full-speed, and he doesn’t have the benefit of the slow motion replays that we all do after the fact.”

That last line is the key part of all of this.

If the NFL is going to continue erring on the side of caution when it comes to penalizing hits on quarterbacks and other ball carriers, not to mention questionable pass interference calls, there needs to be some way of immediately fixing a call when the refs get it wrong. It’s understandable that with increased attention on player safety, officials are going to flag anything that resembles illegal contact.

In many cases, the action is happening so quickly that the first reaction is to call a penalty and sort it out after the fact. The hit on Ryan was so intense that at first glance, it probably HAD to be helmet to helmet, right?

Unlike the officials on the field, the NFL command center in New York and more importantly, television audiences, have the ability of seeing those penalties (or lack thereof) over and over again. When the refs clearly get it wrong and there’s no ability for immediate oversight the way there would be on a player getting both feet in on a sideline catch, it absolutely destroys the credibility of the game.

Would the ability to reverse those calls have affected the end result in Sunday’s games? It wouldn’t have in Atlanta but very well could have in Seattle. But with no reversal available, the NFL is leaving themselves vulnerable to one of these ill-advised penalties being the difference in a showcase postseason game.

In the NFL annual meeting in March, the league passed a rule allowing refs to consult with the league’s officiating department in New York on replays reviews, but a proposal submitted by the Washington Redskins to expand instant replay to personal foul penalties was reportedly defeated by four votes.

When the 2015 meeting convenes, the potential to challenge and review questionable penalties needs to be on the Competition Committee’s agenda. In September, the NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport reported that there had been enough of a shift among owners that such a proposal would likely pass if voted upon again.

After this week’s games, that change can’t come soon enough.