Quote Originally Posted by IndyBison View Post
Not necessarily. There is no requirement that the flag has to happen immediately after the official sees the foul. Sometimes you need to process what you see and not react too quickly and sometimes you just can't get that damn flag out of your belt. Fans see these as late flags but they aren't. It's possible he called the foul on the facemask (I haven't seen that on the replay) but if he did, it could have been a live ball foul rather than a dead ball foul and the referee would have announced the facemask part of it.

I think either there is something about the way Richards got up that we can't see or he got too close to the play and didn't see what #10 did to cause Richards to fall on him. I'm guessing the latter more than the former. Believe it or not, some things are easier to see if you are farther away.
I agree with what you are saying, but if it did have to do with the facemask then they would have said it. Seems (to me) like they missed that call, they missed #10's arm wrap and called Richard for maybe something not on tape, like you said or just saw the aftermath and assumed he saw what he called.

And I agree with your last statement the most as I've coached and reffed enough sports to know that is absolutely true.