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Tom Jones' shooting from the lip

By Tom Jones, Times Staff Writer
In print: Wednesday, November 12, 2008

49ers RB Michael Robinson gets stopped on the final play Monday night after a bizarre series.
	[Getty Images]

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Rumbling, bumbling, stumbling

The end of the Cardinals-49ers Monday Night Marathon featured what might have been the worst-executed series of plays in NFL history. (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but roll with us.) The 49ers had first and goal from the Arizona 1 with 46 seconds left and no timeouts. They ended up spiking the ball twice and running the ball twice and came up short in a 29-24 loss.

San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike Martz, who called the plays, claims the officials cost the 49ers the game, and you know what? He has half-of-a-point. Here's what happened.

On first down, the 49ers wasted 20-some seconds before finally spiking the ball to stop the clock with 20 seconds left. That's what killed them.

On second down, running back Frank Gore carried the ball off tackle, and that's where the confusion started. When the whistle blew, Martz claimed Gore's run was spotted inside the 1 and the 49ers quickly spiked the ball on third down to stop the clock with three seconds left. But just before the third-down snap, officials wanted to review Gore's run to see if he actually was down by contact or had scored. Officials ruled Gore down, and that's where Martz has the beef.

Martz said the ball somehow was pushed back between the 2- and 3-yard lines. As the play was reviewed, Martz, thinking the 49ers needed less than a yard to score, sent in a running play. Instead, after the review, the ball was pushed back to the 2-and-a-half.

Because the review officially came after Gore's run, the clock was going to start up again as soon as the ball was placed on the ground and the referee moved out of the way. Martz said the 49ers didn't have time to call another play. They had to stick with the running play.

But, because of the review, the third-down spike never officially happened. So it was still third down. With three seconds left, the 49ers still had time to spike the ball and run one more play. But trying to alert the offense to run a spike play as time was about to expire was probably impossible.

"Obviously, if we had had time we wouldn't have called that play for that situation," Martz told CBS Sportsline. "We would've called a double fade and passed it. I didn't expect anything like that. We had no recourse. We got (bad calls) every way possible.''

Sir Knight

For a guy who always seemed to have such disdain for the media, former college basketball coach Bob Knight certainly is jumping into the media world with both feet.

ESPN announced Tuesday that Knight will work as analyst on a weekly Thursday night game with play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger as well select non-conference matchups on various other days. Knight also will make regular appearances on College GameDay and various ESPN radio programs and a once-a-week appearance on SportsCenter.

We tease Knight for jumping to "the dark side,'' but this is good news for college hoops fans. Knight was outstanding while working with ESPN last postseason. His candor, humor and insight make him one of the better analysts out there. While he's not quite as polished as a Jay Bilas or as enthusiastic as Dick Vitale, there's something about Knight's rough-around-the-edges style and the possibility that he might say anything that makes him interesting.

Ouch of the day

Last year, it didn't hurt Bright House subscribers that the NFL Network could not be seen because most of the games on the network were dogs. The one really good game (the undefeated Patriots against the Giants in the regular-season finale) was produced by the NFL Network but shown over-the-air so all fans could watch.

This year, however, not having the NFL Network stings. It starts Thursday night as the Patriots and Jets play for first place in the AFC East. Other games include the Cardinals-Eagles, Saints-Bears, Colts-Jaguars and Ravens-Cowboys.

Speaking of Thursday night's Pats-Jets showdown, it didn't seem last summer as if this was going to be a game to watch. But the Jets added a quarterback and the Patriots lost one.

"In the past, New England has dominated this series,'' NFL Network's Deion Sanders said. "Now you bring in guys by the name of Brett Favre and Matt Cassel and suddenly this series has a whole new look and feel."

Line of the day

Did you see Sunday night's Giants-Eagles game? There was a controversial play in the second half when it appeared Giants QB Eli Manning, below, had crossed the line of scrimmage when throwing a pass that set up a key score. Manning appeared to be standing on, but leaning over the red line NBC digitally put up on the screen. After a replay challenge, the play stood as called. But here's the rub: The red line was lined up incorrectly, and NFL officials don't even use such network lines when reviewing replays. In fact, the red line-of-scrimmages and yellow first-down lines used by all networks are not 100 percent accurate, although it's impossible to watch a game without them, isn't it? As far as Sunday night's play, NFL VP/officiating Mike Pereira told the New York Times it was "clearly obvious Manning wasn't beyond the correct red line.''

Best question of the day

Thanks to talk-show host Kelly Ripa for asking a question we always wanted to know the answer to, but would never dare to ask. On Regis & Kelly, Ripa asked beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor how she keeps her bikini from, and this is straight from Ripa's mouth, "riding up your backside?'' May-Treanor said, "I have a good sponsor so I get all my suits custom-made."

World Series odds We're all still coming down off the Rays' run to the World Series, so here's a little extra cold water to throw on you. Despite upsetting the Red Sox and Yankees to win the American League East then the AL pennant, oddsmakers don't see the Rays as a favorite to win it all next season. The Red Sox and Yankees both have better odds at winning the 2009 World Series, according to BoDogLife.com, a gambling Web site. Still, the Rays are in mix, something we hardly could have imagined a year ago. Here are the top teams:

Red Sox 11/2

Yankees 6/1

Cubs 15/2

Angels 17/2

Mets 13/1

Phillies 13/1

Dodgers 15/1

Indians 16/1

Rays 16/1

D'backs 18/1

Tigers 18/1