Gautreaux’s Louisiana accent is classically calming, laid back and thick. “I felt strongly about the call,” Gautreaux insisted. Gautreaux said he was sold on the signal of a touchdown from the moment both arms went up in the air. Because even if instant replay was there to bail out Gautreaux if he called the pass incomplete, it’s harder to overturn a call than to let it stand (unless you’re officiating the aforementioned Jesse James play, of course). “Fortunately, I got it right on that play.” “They just jumped up with excitement, not because they were Pittsburgh fans but just because they were Greg Gautreaux fans,” Gautreaux said of their reaction when the call was upheld. They were asking themseleves the same question. Gautreaux’s wife and three kids were in attendance at Raymond James Stadium. Was Gautreaux going to be the new Denkinger, 23 years later?įor two minutes and 39 seconds, hearts were racing for Steelers fans all over America as Holmes’ catch was being reviewed by referee Terry McAulay and the replay judges. He was an umpire who worked in Major League Baseball for 29 years but is only known for one costly blown call in the 1985 World Series. When he was younger, Gautreaux thought he was going to be a baseball umpire. Worse yet, what if he was wrong but there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn it and a controversial call hung over this Super Bowl result forever? What if Gautreaux was wrong and got overturned upon replay? Greg Gautreaux (is) the field judge,” Michaels said before a cutaway shot of linebacker James Harrison celebrating. He’s the closest man to it to signal the touchdown. If you watch the entire game, NBC play-by-play man Al Michaels name-dropped him during the slew of camera angles as the review of Holmes’ catch was happening. If he was wrong, he wouldn’t have ended up being comfortably anonymous. So I busted out the archives to find out who official “FJ 80” was for that Super Bowl. Which is why I couldn’t call this guy just “the field judge” forever. Is your list longer than zero yet? Don’t worry, mine wouldn’t have been either. I mean, come up with the list of the top five NFL field judges. We never remember the guys who got the calls right, though, do we? Especially if they aren’t even the head official. And Gordon McCarter was forever known as “ that ref who got the picture shoved in his shirt pocket by Bill Cowher.” Al Riveron and Tony Corrente were the replay czar and in-game ref during the fateful Jesse James play against the New England Patriots in 2017. Pete Morelli’s 2005 AFC playoff game mistake in Indianapolis on Troy Polamalu’s interception. We remember the guys who made calls that went against the Steelers. Offer $100 to the first guy who can come up with the name of the field judge who may have made the most important call in Steelers Super Bowl history. Who was that field judge? Should I know that? Do other people know that? “The field judge never woulda made the right call without me.” When my phone started to buzz again with people sharing the tweet with me, I answered the way I always do. So the “Sunday Night Football on NBC” account sent out that clip to honor him. The play started to gain traction again on Twitter earlier this month. And so did field judge, hmm, what the heck was his name anyway? Can you blame me? At least I got the call right. OK, I concede that maybe the fan in me came out a little bit. It was just a reflex to say, “Wow! He got his feet down.” I wasn’t exclaiming to anyone in particular. I didn’t know anyone standing next to me. I was objectively saying, “Look! He was in bounds!” But, if it pleases the court, allow me to argue that I was “technically” being objective. In that split second during the catch, you could accuse me of losing some journalistic objectivity by pointing like that. If they didn’t, I was supposed to make my way to the losing team’s interview area with everyone else. I was credentialed to do on-field postgame interviews for the Steelers Radio Network if the Steelers won. I’m the guy manically pointing that Holmes got his toes down in the end zone at the 34-second mark. Sunday Night Football on NBC March 3, 2021 Happy birthday to whose Super Bowl touchdown grab will always live on in the hearts of fans. Look over Mewelde Moore’s left shoulder 24 seconds into this clip and follow it through the end of the catch. “ Is that you right behind Santonio Holmes in the end zone during the game-winning catch?!” I get a random bump in Twitter interactions. I can always tell when the NFL Network is replaying the Steelers’ Super Bowl XLIII victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
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