NFL Officiating Somehow Gets Worse
Every season seems to get worse. The NFL officials seemingly get more of the spotlight than the players get. Obviously, the whole world remembers how the refs missed an obvious pass interference call in the Saints and Rams game in last year’s playoffs. That call was so atrocious that they made up an entirely new way to challenge a play for the 2019–20 NFL season where coaches can challenge whether or not a player has committed pass interference.
Well, the officiating did it again. This time was once again front and center on national TV for ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The officials won the game for the Green Bay Packers. Plain and simple. Sure, the Lions didn’t help themselves by settling for 5 field goals, but you can’t get in the end zone on every possession. After all, the Lions didn’t play bad. They just could’ve played better. But what team plays perfect other than the New England Patriots?
The truth of the matter is, the referees called two penalties on the Lions high paid defensive end, Trey Flowers, for hands to the face. Both were on third down when it would’ve been fourth down. Both calls were absolutely absurd and they were both hands to the face which gave the Packers an automatic first down. One led to a touchdown and the other led to a walk-off field goal.
Flowers, who had never had a hands to the face call in his life, did not commit one on either call tonight, either. And it swung the game in a completely different direction. Hopefully, someone speaks out on the issue on the Lions. They are typically a team that doesn’t call out the referees, which is respectable, but in a situation such as this, it is necessary.
Anthony “Booger” McFarland, an in-game commentator for ESPN, absolutely ripped the referees to shreds when both of those calls were made on Flowers. It is refreshing to see some of that happen in the NFL, especially when the spotlight is on with a national television broadcast. NBA on TNT typically calls out the refs when it is needed and it is truly refreshing to the fans. Scott Van Pelt finished Booger’s thoughts when the game ended and he went live on SportCenter directly after.
It is ruining the game of football for so many people. Not only does it disrupt the flow of the game, but it costs teams like the Lions the game tonight which greatly hurts their chances to win their division, or possibly even make the playoffs at all. The Lions are just one example. It seems that every week there is a team that can truly say that the officiating cost their team the game. It’s bad when it happens little by little throughout the game, but even worse when it’s on a game-winning drive.
There seems to be a lot of outrage about this one. Multiple TV personalities and former players spoke their minds on Twitter on how officiating was for this game and for the game of football overall. It is getting worse every season and something has to be done before this game we love becomes unwatchable.
The truth of the matter is this is just another game. This happens every week to some poor team with a fanbase who gets crushed and has to go to bed angry. This game will be forgotten just like all the other ones the referees have changed drastically. Unless of course, they make a rule out of it.
