NFL concedes mistakes by officials

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Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs yesterday expressed displeasure with a pair of officiating calls in Washington's 21-18 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, and the NFL responded by conceding its crew made two mistakes.

A club source said league officials reviewed the two plays in question -- a pass interference call on Redskins cornerback Walt Harris in the first quarter, and a no-call on a deep pass to Rod Gardner in the fourth quarter. The league conceded error in both cases.

"I won't go into it because I'll get myself fined, but there were two awful calls, and both of them went against us," Gibbs said. "You couldn't get anything farther from what should have been called in both cases. Both of them were touchdowns, both of them were against us. ... You realize in close games you need to have those things called correctly."

Both plays proved crucial. First Harris was flagged for pass interference on a third-and-8 pass from Vinny Testaverde to Terry Glenn. Replays appeared to show Glenn initiating contact with Harris in the end zone, but officials called the penalty on the defender and placed the ball at the 1. Eddie George scored a touchdown on the next play to give the Cowboys a 7-0 lead.

"I didn't think it was going to be a call at all," Harris said. "But I turned around, saw the flag and I was surprised. I wanted to see what it was about. They didn't give me any explanation at all. It's kind of amazing -- the league is getting so sensitive to any kind of touching at all. I just don't think it's being called consistently on both sides of the ball."

The Redskins certainly didn't believe so, and they point to the second of the two controversial plays as proof.

Trailing 21-10 early in the fourth quarter, Washington quarterback Mark Brunell tried to throw deep to Gardner in the end zone. Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman defended the play, but Gardner immediately began jumping up and down when no flag was thrown for pass interference.

The Redskins punted later in the drive and didn't get the ball back until there were less than five minutes to play.

According to Gibbs, Newman grabbed Gardner's arm and "holds him down before the ball gets there. That's what happened. That's what's on film."

Clock mismanagement