Jerome Boger’s crew should be suspended for missing this call.
The NFL will not shut up about player safety, especially when current and former players talk about the effects of head trauma and the NFL’s other inevitable violences. But as much as the NFL’s officials are allegedly instructed to err on the side of player safety, it doesn’t always work out. With 4:23 left in the Saints-Titans game on Sunday, Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw a pass to receiver Kalif Raymond, and Raymond was absolutely leveled by New Orleans defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
No flag against the Saints for hit to the head… ok.
He is unconscious on the field and we’re going to pretend nothing happened. pic.twitter.com/fSBP6iJFlU
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) December 22, 2019
Raymond fumbled, as one tends to do when one has been rendered unconscious, and Gardner-Johnson recovered the ball. There was no penalty called, though there clearly should have been, and the Saints scored on their subsequent drive. So, instead of the Titans having advantageous field position based on a penalty that should have been called, the Titans were robbed of an important possession, and lost, 38-28.
“I did, but they didn’t see it that way,” head coach Mike Vrabel said when asked if Gardner-Johnson should have been flagged for a hit to a defenseless receiver. “That’s what happens. It’s fast, it happens quickly. Again, it’s about player safety and about when that player becomes unprotected. There’s a certain time completing the process of the catch, and it’s a fine line.”
Given the egregious nature of the miss, and the clear violation of player safety, head official Jerome Boger and his entire crew should at least be fined, and possibly suspended, for Week 17, and should be downgraded for any playoff assignments.
Given the lack of accountability under VP of Officiating Al Riveron, we’re not expecting that to happen. But it should.