Gruden questions key officiating calls in loss to Broncos

DENVER — The Raiders have made no secret about their disappointment with how some big plays have been officiated against them this year. They believe two calls changed the dynamics of Sunday’s game.

The first came in the second quarter with the score 3-3. Officials ruled that Alec Ingold was stopped short of crossing the goal line on a fourth-down plunge. Some camera angles appear to show Ingold got the ball across the goal line. But replay officials upheld the call on the field.

“I thought we scored,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “I thought we were in on Ingold’s play.”

Ingold was disappointed but did not question the officials.

“The call on the field wasn’t a touchdown, so I have to take it upon myself when coach and players trust me to do my job,” he said. “It shouldn’t have been that close. That’s on me. It’s something I’ll be thinking about for the next seven months.”

On the other disputed call, safety Erik Harris was flagged for unnecessary roughness when he crashed into Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton along the Raiders’ sideline. It was a textbook play by Harris, who led with his shoulder and arrived at the point of attack nearly simultaneously with the ball.

But the referees thought otherwise, resulting in a 15-yard penalty to extend a drive that ended with a field goal and a 16-3 lead for Denver.

“I thought it was a heck of a play,” Gruden said. “I think (that with) some of these bang-bang collisions, the quarterbacks should get penalized for throwing the ball in there. I mean, I thought Harris went in there with his shoulder, no head at all. But I think his target needs to be better. That’s the reaction I’ve got to learn from and take from that.”

Said Harris: “It’s hard. I wouldn’t say I’m that type of player to go target people at their heads. If you go back and watch the film, I tried to take my head out of it. Obviously, at some point helmets are going to connect, but it wasn’t the first thing to connect.

“My shoulder was the first thing that connected, and my head is attached to my shoulders. The receivers, they try to protect themselves, too, so you have your point, and you’re committed to it and then that point lowers. So it’s difficult. I wouldn’t change anything about the play.”

Harris said he is cognizant of the ramifications of reckless play and does his best to steer clear of it.

“Again, I wasn’t trying helmet to helmet or anything like that,” Harris said. “At the end of the day, it hurts my team and it hurts my pocket, so why would I want to do that?”

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Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.