Tag: NFL Officials

Lions avoid officiating nemeses in Week 6 trip to Dallas

Lions road games vs. the Cowboys have featured some awful officiating calls, but this week’s referee and crew weren’t part of them.

Seemingly every time the Detroit Lions have faced the Dallas Cowboys in recent years, one of the primary postgame stories is the officiating from the game. That was certainly true in the meeting last year, when referee Brad Allen and his crew incorrectly nullified a Lions two-point conversion in a game that Dallas ultimately won by one point.

Allen won’t be in Arlington, Texas, this week. Nor will Pete Morelli or his crew. Morelli was responsible for waving off a defensive pass interference flag thrown by his crew in the 2014 wild-card round against the Lions, effectively sealing a win for the Cowboys.

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This year, John Hussey and his crew will handle the officiating. Hussey has yet to do a Lions game in 2024. Like the Lions, Hussey and his crew are coming off a bye week. They’re one of the least flag-happy crews across the league, too.

The Lions avoid some old officiating nemeses in this week’s trip to Dallas. Here’s hoping they avoid any new controversies, too.

The refs get it wrong with the Lions–again–and fans let them have it

The social media world did not take kindly to the obvious blown call.

It might be the postseason, but the shaky officiating isn’t any different with the Detroit Lions. An obvious officiating gaffe late in the first half of Detroit’s playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams cost the Lions a potential scoring drive.

Lions left tackle Taylor Decker was called for a false start on a penalty where he did not move until Rams EDGE Ernest Jones jumped into the neutral zone. Decker reached out to draw the penalty on Jones, but the officials wrongly flagged him instead. It changed what would have been a first down in Rams territory into a punt.

The social media world did not take kindly to the obvious blown call. Lions fans are already acutely sensitive to these, but for a lot of America, this was their first taste of the refs screwing the Lions over.

Browns Twitter flames NFL officials after robbing Amari Cooper of a touchdown vs. Titans

The NFL officials made an egregiously bad call in Browns vs. Titans that robbed Amari Cooper of a touchdown. And Twitter let them know.

The Cleveland Browns are in a heated battle with the Tennessee Titans in Week 3. And while the Browns lead at home by a score of 13-3, the NFL officials robbed wide receiver Amari Cooper of a potential touchdown by egregiously blowing dead a catch and run where he was running free down the sidelines.

After finding himself on the receiving end of a deep ball from quarterback Deshaun Watson, Cooper was running down the sideline with one man to beat. However, out of nowhere, an official blew the play dead, stating the Cleveland wide receiver stepped out of bounds.

There is one problem, however: Cooper was a solid 12 inches from the white of the sideline. Unfortunately, this is not a reviewable play and it cost the Browns a massive chunk of yards and perhaps a touchdown. They then settled for a field goal on the drive.

As always, Browns Twitter is never shy about putting officials on blast. Here are some of the best tweets from this debacle.

The NFL is using the Chiefs OL vs. the Lions in training tape for officials

The NFL is using all the uncalled violations by Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor vs. the Lions in training tape for officials

Anyone who watched Detroit’s Week 1 win over the Kansas City Chiefs witnessed Chiefs RT Jawaan Taylor obviously breaking rules on nearly every snap. Well, everyone except the NFL game officials inside Arrowhead Stadium.

In an effort to raise awareness of the multiple rules Taylor was in violation of against Detroit, the NFL has included clips and instructions of his illegal alignment, failure to properly come to a set position, and early jump on the snap in this week’s training tape. The league distributes these to officials, as well as all teams, weekly to help clean up issues.

Former NFL Director of Officiating Dean Blandino, among many others, called out the officials for missing the repeated Taylor violations. Now a television analyst on rules and officiating, Blandino pointed out that the NFL is using the injustices against the Lions from Week 1 in this week’s training tape.

Blandino revealed the info via Matt Verderame of SI,

“On the tape this week at the very end, there are several examples of—and a couple from the Thursday night game with Jawaan Taylor—of tackles who are too far back. … That was emphasized on the training tape going into Week 2,” Blandino said. “I would expect, just from my experience, officials watch that training tape. It’s usually a very good learning tool, and it’s good for giving your officials direction. I would expect we will not see the egregious examples we may have seen in Week 1.”

Lions fans have seen and heard this before, of course. One that immediately comes to mind is the emphasis on illegal batting of the ball from a prior meeting with the Seattle Seahawks, who got away with the egregious infraction en route to a win. Here’s hoping the officials are dialed into the rule book on Sunday in Ford Field.

Quartet of NFL officials plan to retire

Four NFL officials have to decided to step away from the game

Four NFL officials are retiring.

The most recognizable name is referee Jerome Boger, who has been with the league for 19 years.

The others exiting are down judge Jerry Bergman, line judge Walt Coleman, back judge Steven Patrick.

Schefter: Multiple NFL execs believe officiating screwed the Lions out of a playoff berth

Schefter: Multiple NFL execs believe bad officiating in the Seahawks/Rams game in Week 18 screwed the Lions out of a playoff berth

The Detroit Lions failed to make the playoffs even after beating the Green Bay Packers in Week 18 in the final game of the regular season. According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, more than a few league execs believe the failure of the officiating crew in Seattle’s Week 18 win over the Los Angeles Rams played no small part in why the Lions didn’t make it.

Several controversial officiating calls that directly benefitted the Seahawks are under serious scrutiny by the NFL, per Schefter. Among them are an incorrectly assessed running into the kicker penalty and a failure to penalize Seahawks QB Geno Smith for an obvious intentional grounding foul.

Schefter notes,

Multiple sources told ESPN that the Rams were upset by the officiating, the Lions were bothered by it and the competition committee was frustrated by it. The calls benefited the Seahawks, hurt the Rams and ultimately impacted the Lions, who needed Seattle to lose in order to have a chance to claim the NFC’s final wild-card spot.

Schefter also quoted one league source who was angry on behalf of the Lions,

“The Lions should be livid,” one source told ESPN. “It was an awful way for them to end their season.”

Seattle’s win eliminated the Lions before Detroit kicked off the Sunday night game in Green Bay. The Lions’ 20-16 win over the Packers eliminated the Packers and earned the spot for the Seahawks. Seattle plays San Francisco in the wild card round.

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How the Seattle Seahawks making the playoffs led to the NFL’s latest officiating controversy, explained

The NFL’s officials will be under a microscope this postseason

The Seahawks will play the 49ers to kick off the NFL’s postseason action on Saturday, but the game won’t come without a bit of controversy before things start.

There’s no question that bad officiating led to the Seahawks‘ success against the Rams in their win-or-go-home matchup for week 18. There was a mixture of bad calls and missed calls that ultimately benefitted Seattle on their way to a win.

Bad calls happen. Officials are human and humans make mistakes. It is what it is. But, apparently, these calls were so egregious that, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, NFL officials are “under scrutiny” after the officiating crew’s poor performance in that game.

That’s a pretty big deal and could impact the way games are officiated moving forward. Let’s go over what’s being reported, what caused all this and how things might move forward.

NFL execs, coaches not happy about officiating in Rams-Seahawks finale

NFL executives and coaches believe officials missed multiple calls in Rams-Seahawks that benefited Seattle

The Los Angeles Rams had nothing to play for in Week 18 when they visited the Seattle Seahawks, but their rivals did. Seattle needed a win in order to keep its playoff hopes alive, with a loss ending any hope of making the postseason.

The Seahawks edged out the Rams in overtime and made the playoffs thanks to a Lions win, but it wasn’t without controversy. There were several questionable calls made by officials in that game, all of which benefitted the Seahawks. Rams and Lions fans were frustrated by the officiating, and it turns out they weren’t alone.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, “multiple executives and coaches said the NFL needs to reevaluate how it chooses and trains its officiating staff for future seasons” after seeing the controversial calls in the Rams-Seahawks contest last week.

Those same executives and coaches said game officials and the league missed multiple calls that helped key the Seahawks’ overtime victory over the Rams that sent Seattle to Saturday’s wild-card round and prevented the Detroit Lions from reaching the playoffs.

Even the NFL’s competition committee is aware of what one source described to ESPN “as the worst officiated game of the year.”

The most controversial calls all came in the fourth quarter and overtime. Jonah Williams was called for running into the kicker, giving the Seahawks a free first down in the fourth quarter, which led to a game-tying field goal. Williams was clearly shoved into the punter, which should not have been a penalty.

Jalen Ramsey was also called for unnecessary roughness when Geno Smith ran into him along the sideline after a long run in the fourth quarter, despite Ramsey simply standing his ground. After the play, DK Metcalf stuck his fingers in Ramsey’s facemask but was not penalized.

Then in overtime, Quandre Diggs picked off Baker Mayfield and taunted Bobby Wagner on the sidelines while running out of bounds, but no flag was thrown. The Seahawks turned that pick into a game-winning drive.

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Lions vs. Packers draws referee Brad Rogers and his officiating crew

Rogers was the referee when the Lions beat the Giants in Week 11

Whenever there is a primetime game in Green Bay, it feels like officiating plays a role in the outcome of the game. That’s also true whenever the Detroit Lions play the Packers, no matter when or where.

From a phantom hands-to-the-face penalty to an offensive pass interference call against Green Bay changed to defensive against Detroit with no explanation back in 2012, the length of Lions’ officiating gripes against the Packers is a lengthy one. Because of that, all eyes will be on this week’s officiating crew.

According to Football Zebras, and they’re always spot-on with this info, this week’s crew for the Lions game in Green Bay will be referee Brad Rogers and his team.

This will be Rogers’ first assignment with the Packers all season. He was the referee in New York when the Lions beat the Giants back in Week 11. His crew lands in the middle of the range for penalties called by a crew. The home/away splits on calls are pretty neutral, with 89 on the home team and 84 on the road team. Rogers and his crew are near the bottom in holding calls on both offense and defense but have thrown the third-most roughing-the-passer flags of the 17 NFL crews in 2022.

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4-Down Territory: Bad officiating, dumbest plays, Jalen Hurts — system QB? (no), Vikings’ greatness

In this week’s 4-Down Territory, Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling discuss bad officiating, really dumb plays, whether Jalen Hurts is a “system QB,” and the Vikings.

Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With Week 15 of the 2022 NFL season in the books, there was a lot to cover!

This week, Doug and Luke discuss:

  1. 00:00 – How should the NFL solve the officiating blunders?
  2. 06:00 – What is the dumbest play you’ve ever seen at any level of football?
  3. 10:02 – Is Jalen Hurts a system quarterback and easily replaceable?
  4. 15:00 – Is there anything about this win that makes you believe more in the now 11-3 Vikings?

You can watch this week’s episode of “4-Down Territory” right here:

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