Tag: NFL Officiating

What do we know about the officiating crew for Commanders vs. Buccaneers?

We learn about the officiating crew for the Commanders and Buccaneers.

The NFL playoffs have arrived, which means officiating will be scrutinized more than ever. Every season, all 32 NFL teams have valid complaints about officiating. The Washington Commanders have dealt with questionable officiating in recent weeks. In the Week 15 win over the Saints, the officials temporarily and incorrectly stopped the clock, allowing New Orleans one more play.

Washington is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2020. The Commanders will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. This week, the NFL revealed the officiating crews for all six playoff games, and Craig Wrolstad’s crew has the assignment in Tampa.

What do we know about Wrolstad’s crew? He’s in his 11th season as a Referee and 22nd overall as an NFL official.

Courtesy of the X account @nflrefstats1, we learned more about Wrolstand and his crew.

  • Wrolstad’s crew is No. 1 in calling pre-snap penalties.
  • Wrolstad’s crew ranks No. 1 in assessing taunting penalties. Why is that important? Mike Evans faces off against Marshon Lattimore, and they have a long history.
  • Wrolstad’s crew ranks second in most penalties per game.
  • Commanders are the NFL’s most penalized team on third down.
  • Commanders No. 1 in the NFL in defensive pass interference penalties.
  • Wrolstad’s crew penalizes heavily on first and second downs but much less on third downs.

Excellent information here. Washington’s penalties have been an issue in recent weeks. Lattimore was called for three pass interference penalties in Week 16 vs. Philadelphia, although two were very questionable.

Something else of note here is that Washington’s pre-snap penalties have also been an issue, which Wrolstad’s crew will call every time.

Hopefully, this weekend’s game will not be decided by officiating. Otherwise, it should be a fun, high-scoring battle.

Former longtime NFL offensive lineman weighs in on ‘BS holding’ call

Former NFL OL weighs in on those questionable holding calls.

The Washington Commanders won their fourth consecutive game Sunday, defeating the Atlanta Falcons 30-24 to clinch a playoff berth. Quarterback Jayden Daniels led the Commanders on a last-second game-winning drive for the second week in a row.

However, something hangs over Washington’s performance in the last three games: NFL officiating. The Commanders are dealing with mounting injuries and multiple questionable officiating calls. Let’s not forget the mistake officials made in the win over New Orleans in Week 15 by not keeping the clock moving and essentially allowing the Saints a free play to try to win the game. The NFL acknowledged the terrible mistake.

Last week, the Commanders were called for six penalties for 93 yards. Three of them were defensive pass interference penalties on cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Two were called on the same drive, essentially giving the Eagles a touchdown. Former All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman weighed in on those calls.

In the win over the Falcons, Washington was penalized 13 times for 108 yards. In some fairness to officials, several of the calls against the Commanders were correct. Mike Sainristil’s neutral-zone infraction that cost Washington four points was the right call.

However, two holding penalties against right guard Sam Cosmi were highly questionable. Even NBC questioned the penalties, especially the first one, during the broadcast.

On Monday, former NFL offensive lineman Will Montgomery, a 10-year veteran who spent six seasons with Washington, took to X to call the second holding penalty against Cosmi, a “BS holding call.”

Here’s Montgomery’s post:

Montgomery provides some excellent details here. It’s important to note that the first holding call was essentially exactly the same scenario.

Ben Standig of The Athletic, via David Aldridge, noted how Sunday night’s officiating crew was No. 1 in defensive holding calls and No. 2 in offensive holding calls.

NFL officiating impacts every game and every team. Unfortunately, the NFL, with its record ratings and profits, does not see it as an issue. Over the last two games, Washington’s opponents have also been hit with questionable calls. Fortunately for the Commanders, they didn’t lose any of these games.

Richard Sherman has harsh words for NFL officiating over PI calls against Commanders

Richard Sherman is fed up with NFL officiating’s bias toward offensive players.

The Washington Commanders shocked the NFL world, snapping the Philadelphia Eagles’ 10-game winning streak with a 36-33 win on Sunday. One day later, Eagles’ fans complained that NFL officiating cost them the game.

In Sunday’s game between the two NFC East rivals, the Commanders and Eagles were heavily penalized, with 93 and 91 yards, respectively. Plenty of questionable calls went against both teams.

However, the defensive pass interference penalties against Washington cornerback Marshon Lattimore appeared the most questionable. Lattimore was flagged three times for pass interference, one of which gave the Eagles 38 yards. Two plays later, officials flagged Lattimore again, this time for 23 yards. The Eagles eventually kicked a field goal but were aided by a ridiculous 61 yards in penalties.

Former All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman, now an analyst for Amazon Prime, was having none of it, criticizing NFL officiating for the pass-interference calls on Lattimore.

“The whole world is biased for offensive players, so somebody gotta be based the other way,” Sherman said on the “Richard Sherman Podcast.” “Those PI calls on Lattimore were absolute horses–t. Absolute horses–t. I’m so tired of this game getting so soft and ridiculous and people having the audacity to complain about it. Like, how are those PIs? If the receiver is physical, then you have to let the DB at least defend himself. Don’t be praising these receivers for being, ‘Ohhh, man; he’s so physical. He’s so strong.’ And you see him pushing the corner in the neck and pushing him off and grabbing him by the collar. And then, when the corner gets his hands off of him, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, you can’t grab him.'”

More from Sherman:

“What about him grabbing me by the neck while running his route? Because everything’s acceptable for a receiver to do, but there’s nothing acceptable for a corner to do. Let the boys play. I don’t know what you want him to do. You want him to stay close to him while he’s getting pushed and not grab him back? Have you ever been punched in the face and then just kept getting punched in the face, and then they’re like, ‘Hey, don’t worry, if he punch you in the face one more time, we’ll say something.’ They’re not.”

He’s 100% correct. The NFL is geared toward favoring the offense. Everyone wants more scoring. Over the years, the rules have changed to favor the receiver, but nothing was ever changed for the defensive back. The league is always taking from the defense and giving to the offense. Have you seen some of the roughing calls?

Of course, nothing is more costly than defensive pass interference. It’s a spot foul. The officials were so bad that Philadelphia quarterback Kenny Pickett could’ve continued to underthrow A.J. Brown. If Brown and Lattimore had even touched it, they would’ve thrown the flag against Lattimore.

Lattimore and Brown were all over each other. It was good, old-fashioned football between two players among the best at their respective positions. If the NFL continues to insist that defensive pass interference is a spot foul, it must be reviewable moving forward. Of course, that would mean the NFL admitting its mistakes, and we know they hate doing that.

Cam Heyward tears into controversial Week 15 officiating vs Eagles

Cam Heyward calls out poor officiating in the Week 15 Steelers-Eagles game that saw several questionable penalty decisions made.

As viewers of the Week 15 contest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles are well aware, the officiating was—to say the least—terrible.

Veteran Steelers DT Cam Heyward took exception with two poor calls in particular, one that saw his little brother TE/FB Connor Heyward being punched, and the other was TE Darnell Washington being slugged by Eagles CB Darius Slay.

On the most recent episode of Not Just Football with Cam Heyward, the Steelers defensive tackle discussed both of the atrocious officiating decisions: “The reasoning behind those two plays just felt idiotic.”

Heyward would continue to rip into the officials’ decisions and vision on these penalties, arguing that it “did not feel like they even looked at the plays.”

Heyward concluded his analysis and criticism of the officials from Week 15’s contest, describing that, at the very least, the penalties should have offset between Washington and Slay.

Heyward will need to recompose himself, as the team has little time to focus on the poor officiating from Week 15. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the potential to take the AFC North title by defeating the Baltimore Ravens in Week 16, and to do so, every bit of energy and effort will need to be spent on stopping the Lamar Jackson-led offense.

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Commanders’ Dan Quinn taking the ‘high road’ in NFL officiating mess

Dan Quinn takes the high road.

What did Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn think of the egregious NFL officiating mistake at the end of Sunday’s game between his team and the New Orleans Saints?

Quinn took the podium after the Commanders’ 20-19 win, which moved them to 9-5 on the season and increased their playoff odds. While Quinn was relieved to discuss the win, reporters wanted his take on how the officials incorrectly stopped the clock with nine seconds remaining, giving the Saints an extra almost four seconds to score a touchdown and go for the win.

Quinn said he’s taking the high road.

“I don’t, and I am going to absolutely take the high road right now about that,” Quinn said. “I saw a quick video of that and, so I will wait for the response from New York, but those three seconds are critical, I’ll say that.”

After a brief pause, Quinn laughed and said, “We’re onto Philadelphia.”

We have a feeling Quinn wouldn’t have been so nice about this had the Saints converted on the two-point play, which would have cost Washington the game.

The Commanders won the game, which was full of terrible officiating, so those controversial calls do not sting as much. Regardless, even if Quinn expressed his outrage publicly, what would come out of it? He’d be fined. That’s how the NFL works.

Fortunately for Washington, the NFL will send a worthless apology letter this week. At some point this season, unless you’re in Kansas City, you’ve likely received one or more of those letters.

New footage shows officials were wrong in Week 15’s Steelers-Eagles fight

New footage vindicates Steelers fans, proving officiating errors in Pittsburgh’s Week 15 game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Oh, how the tables have turned. Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers were criticized as sore losers for blaming the awful officiating in Week 15’s contest between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. However, new footage from one key play in the game supports the Black and Gold faithful’s claims.

Early in the first quarter, Steelers WR Calvin Austin and TE Darnell Washington were wrongfully the only players penalized for a fight that broke out with Eagles CBs Quinyon Mitchell and Darius Slay Jr.

HC Mike Tomlin was visibly upset on the sideline following the penalty on his players alone. When asked postgame why the officiating crew made the call, referee Alan Eck stated it was due to a lack of evidence.

However, newly released footage clearly shows that Slay and Mitchell both took shots at Washington and Austin.  This begs the question, how was officiating upstairs unable to catch the penalty in replay assist?

While this is certainly not the first time officials have given the Pittsburgh Steelers the short end of the stick, fans of the Steel City certainly hope it will be the last in 2024.

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What did the NFL say about latest officiating blunder?

The NFL admits the clock should not have stopped.

The Washington Commanders defeated the New Orleans Saints 20-19 on Sunday, improving to 9-5 on the season. The win kept Washington in the No. 7 spot in the NFC playoff picture.

However, the game could have ended much differently, thanks to one of the worst officiating errors you’ve seen in years — and that’s saying something.

The game was on the line late in the fourth quarter when New Orleans quarterback Spencer Rattler, with his team trailing 20-13 and the clock ticking, faced a fourth-and-3 from the Washington eight-yard line. Rattler found tight end Foster Moreau for a seven-yard gain before several Commanders brought him down at the one-yard line.

With no timeouts, this is exactly what Washington wanted. Moreau was tackled in the field of play, so the clock should have kept moving, but it didn’t.

Check it out.

The official stopped the clock, giving the Saints a free four seconds. This allowed Rattler to get to the line of scrimmage, set his teammates up, and spike the ball. Three seconds were remaining, giving New Orleans time for one more play.

Sure enough, Rattler found Moreau for a touchdown on the next play. The Saints went for two and the win, but the pass fell incomplete, allowing the Commanders to escape with the win.

This should never have happened. The “free” four seconds given to New Orleans would never have occurred had the clock continued to roll.

Everyone watching the game witnessed the mistake, which was not addressed. However, after the game, Referee Shawn Hochuli answered questions from a pool reporter and acknowledged that the clock should have never stopped.

“The covering official mistakenly stopped the clock in that situation,” he said. “The clock should not have stopped.”

OK, what would have happened if this cost the Commanders the game? Tough luck.

Hochuli said the situation was not reviewable.

“No, it’s not a situation that is reviewable.”

When asked when the crew noticed the mistake, Hochuli was done answering questions.

Pathetic. And you wonder why the confidence in NFL officiating is at an all-time low? Yet, if a player comes to the podium and slightly criticizes the officials, he is subject to a fine.

This wasn’t the game’s only controversial call. This game was chock full of them. Makes you wonder, eh?

 

Social media is furious with NFL officiating in Commanders-Saints game

It’s unanimous: the NFL almost screwed the Commanders.

If you watched Sunday’s game between the Washington Commanders and New Orleans, you likely saw arguably the most egregious NFL officiating error of the 2024 season. We say it’s arguable because there are far too many to count across the league.

New Orleans quarterback Spencer Rattler completed a pass to tight end Foster Moreau at the Washington one-yard line with nine seconds remaining. The clock should’ve kept rolling as Moreau was down in the field of play, and the Saints had no timeouts remaining.

It didn’t, and almost four seconds went off the clock. This allowed Rattler time to get to the line of scrimmage and set his teammates before spiking the ball with three seconds remaining. On the next play, Rattler threw a touchdown pass to Moreau, and the Saints went for the two-point conversion — and win — but missed, preserving a 20-19 win for the Commanders.

During the game and after, social media was angry about the error.

Here are some of those reactions via X.

 

It’s becoming more difficult for the NFL to beat these types of allegations.

NFL explains why Zach Ertz catch was not a touchdown

The NFL explains the Zach Ertz call.

The Washington Commanders defeated the Chicago Bears 18-15 on Sunday in one of the most thrilling NFL finishes in years. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels’ Hail Mary into the end zone landed in the waiting arms of Noah Brown to give Washington the shocking win.

While Chicago fans will lament blowing the game on the Hail Mary, the Commanders had several opportunities to put the game away long before the fourth quarter.

Up 6-0 with over five minutes remaining in the first half, Daniels found tight end Zach Ertz in the front corner of the end zone for the game’s first touchdown. However, officials ruled it incomplete. The Commanders challenged the ball but lost.

Judge for yourself:

If they had ruled it complete on the field, this was one of those calls that probably remained a touchdown. After the game, Nicki Jhabvala asked NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth about the controversial call.

“The ruling on the field was an incomplete pass,” Butterworth said. “After the challenge flag was thrown, for us to overturn it, we needed clear and obvious video evidence that he actually had control of the ball before it hit the ground. When the ball came to the ground, we had hand separation off of the ball, therefore it’s an incomplete pass.”

He provided further clarification.

“There were two different angles used, and he didn’t have his hand completely under the ball,” Butterworth replied. “And then you look at right after the hand and ball had contact with the ground, his hands were off the ball momentarily.”

The NFL created this problem, and fans have been confused ever since. It’s not just fans, but players and coaches have admitted over the years they aren’t even sure what a catch is anymore. By the current rules, the NFL probably got it right, at least sticking by its initial call. However, if it were ruled a touchdown, things would’ve been much more interesting.

 

The new NFL ban on the hip-drop tackle gives defenses a grim outlook

The NFL is playing a very dangerous game by outlawing the hip-drop tackle.

It was announced Monday that the NFL officially banned the hip-drop tackle via a unanimous vote by the competition committee.

This comes after several players have suffered serious foot and ankle injuries over the last handful of years due to that style of tackle. Tennessee Titans running back Tony Pollard suffered a fractured leg and high ankle sprain against the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs in 2023. Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews also suffered a serious ankle injury as the result of a hip-drop tackle in Week 11 of the 2023 season, which caused him to miss the rest of the regular season.

Several players have voiced their displeasures with the new rule change. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen said via X that the league will be “2 hand touch” next.

Miami Dolphins safety Jevon Holland also weighed in on X, saying that tackling was now banned.

Defenders are angry, and rightfully so. The deck was already heavily stacked against them in terms of the rules, and the penalties that are handcuffed to them. If defenders make a play on the receiver who is seen as defenseless, they are penalized for unnecessary roughness simply for playing football and trying to break up a pass. Instead of a play like that being an incomplete pass and a fourth down, though, it is 15 yards and an automatic first down.

Pass rushers can’t land with all of their body weight on the quarterback when making a sack, which caused a loud outcry after several awful judgement calls on the rule. Specifically, Dolphins edge rusher Jaelan Phillips was flagged in 2022 against the Chargers after sacking Justin Herbert.

And of course there is the constantly-debated pass interference- the most frequently called defensive penalty that is always the subject of debate. If a defender is flagged for pass interference, it’s an automatic first down and spot of the foul penalty. However, if there is a call for offensive pass interference, the offensive player is flagged for only 10 yards from the previous spot.

And now there is this new hip-drop rule, which is incredibly subjective. The NFL is asking players to defy the laws of physics. If a player is running away from a defender, what else would the NFL like them to do besides grab them and pull them to the ground using their body weight? Well, I’ll tell you what they are going to do- there is going to be a lot more hits to the knee. If guys know that they’ll be penalized for wrapping a guy and dropping their body weight to make a tackle, they’ll avoid the penalty by simply diving at their opponents’ knees, which result in even more injuries. And then in two years, the NFL will ban hits to the knee, and the deck will be stacked against defenders even more.

This a dangerous game the NFL is playing. It’s one thing to want to eliminate shots to the head and neck. Everyone is for making the game safer in that regard. However, when the league continually refuses to remove field turf from the game and make all 32 stadiums have natural grass fields, which players have long called for, it’s hard to take them completely seriously when talking about player safety when they haven’t listened to their players about that nagging that has caused far more injuries than hip-drop tackles have.

This still football at the end of the day. No matter what happens, injuries are unfortunately a part of the game, and they can’t be completely eliminated. It’s a physical, contact sport. At least it was.