Caught in the middle ... again

• Advocate staff report
• Published: Oct 7, 2008 - Page: 6C - UPDATED: 12:20 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — Referee Ed Hochuli and his officiating crew were in the limelight again during the New Orleans Saints-Minnesota Vikings game on Monday night in the Superdome.

Hochuli and his crew made national headlines in the second week of the season when they called an obvious fumble by Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler an incomplete pass, likely costing the San Diego Chargers a victory. The NFL office acknowledged the blown call.

Monday night, the same officiating crew was front and center for a series of controversial calls.

The most glaring was a second-quarter no-call on a lost fumble by Saints running back Reggie Bush on which Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway clearly grabbed Bush’s facemask and pulled it down. However, the call was not reviewable under instant replay rules.

In the second quarter, the officials’ blew a play dead when the ball came loose from Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Saints defensive end Charles Grant recovered.

Replays showed the ball starting to come loose just before Peterson’s knee touched the ground. In explaining his decision to uphold the on-field ruling, Hochuli acknowledged that the ball was starting to come loose, but that Peterson’s knee was down before he lost control.

Piling them up
Bush, who had 192 receptions in his first 32 NFL games, caught seven passes Monday night to leave him at 199 for his career.

Bush also scored the 20th and 21st touchdowns of his career in the second half when he returned two punts for scores. It was his third and fourth career touchdowns on punt returns, which is a franchise record, to go with 11 rushing scores and six receiving TDs.

Inactives
The Saints’ inactives were WR Marques Colston (thumb), TE Jeremy Shockey (hernia), DT Sedrick Ellis (knee), WR David Patten (groin), S Chris Reis (hamstring), T Jermon Bushrod, and FB Olaniyi Sobomehin.

The only inactive of note for the Vikings was FS Madieu Williams. Also, starting MLB E.J. Henderson, who has dislocated toes, was put on injured reserve earlier in the day. Shreveport native John David Booty was the third quarterback.

Down and out
With Ellis, Patten and Reis missing their first games with injuries, the Saints have now had 21 of the 53 players who were on their Opening Day roster miss at least one game because of injury or NFL suspension.

Roster move
The Saints released third-string quarterback Joey Harrington and defensive end Josh Savage and brought up two players from their practice squad—tight end Buck Ortega and defensive tackle Remi Ayodele.

Block party
The 59-yard return with a blocked field goal by Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield in the first quarter was the first in the regular season in the 48-year history of the franchise.