Tag: referees

Bears CB Kyler Gordon was flagged for taking his malfunctioning helmet off and NFL fans were irate

How do you get a penalty for this?!

The Chicago Bears got one of the most baffling penalties of the season while playing the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.

Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon was the victim of the horrible officiating, as his facemask got dislodged and dangled loose from his helmet.

As you’d expect, Gordon took his helmet off after the play was over since it was no longer safe for him to wear it. Rather than do nothing for a player making a sensible decision to remove a piece of faulty equipment, Gordon got called for taunting (?!) for removing the helmet.

On the sideline, Gordon seemed to be trying to show the referees that his helmet was temporarily broken, but to no avail. That seemed to have changed the penalty from taking the helmet off to the eventual taunting call, per The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain.

 

We’re going to be honest. This genuinely makes no sense whatsoever.

Calling someone for taunting for trying to show you they removed a malfunctioned piece of football gear so they could get it fixed is the kind of nonsense that gets sports officials so much flak from fans and analysts alike.

There was no reason to make this call since Gordon did nothing even remotely close to what the officiating crew alleged, and NFL fans just weren’t at all on the same page with how this call went.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

Studs and duds from Broncos’ 35-33 loss to Commanders

Another soul-wrenching one-score defeat for the Broncos. Here are studs and duds from the loss.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” This timeless quote from author Charles Dickens perfectly describes the state and “tale of two halves” of the Denver Broncos after their 35-33 loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday.

Here’s a look at Denver’s studs and duds from the heartbreaking defeat in Week 2.

Luka Doncic complaining to referees: A gallery

Mavs star Luka Doncic has had a very close relationship with referees during games since the very first day he arrived in the NBA. After collecting five technical fouls in his rookie season, the Slovenian guard has ranked no lower than No. 7 in the league in that department.

Doncic was finally fined $35,000 by the NBA in March after making a gesture implying that one of the refs was paid in a 127-125 loss to the Warriors. A more heartwarming instance was his interaction with ref Ashley Moyer-Gleich during a Mavs’ win over the Clippers back in March 2021, with NBA Twitter suggesting he said ‘Fouling in love with you’ to make her laugh:

Here’s some pics of Doncic talking to refs through the years:

Who was responsible for all of the penalties in Saints preseason Week 2?

Who was responsible for the penalties in the second Saints preseason game? The Saints came away with a win, but all that free yardage made it too close for comfort:

Penalties and preseason games go together like peanut butter and jelly, but it’s tough to believe many New Orleans Saints fans were satisfied by all of the fouls in their Week 2 exhibition win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Saints were penalized 14 times for 141 yards (a couple of other infractions were declined), while the Chargers drew just 5 fouls for 26 yards.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen certainly wasn’t pleased, saying after the game that it’s an obvious area the team must clean up.

“I didn’t like the penalties, way too many, so that’s something we’ve got to get cleaned up,” Allen reflected, also pointing to the yards given up to Chargers quarterback Easton Stick and too many coverage busts on fourth down. “Look we won the game, and I’m pleased about that, but there is a ton of crap that needs to get cleaned up.”

The good news is that the Saints should have referees in attendance for practice this week; they didn’t practice with an officiating crew present all summer, taking the field with the zebras for the first time in two joint practices with the Chargers last week. While the Saints will not be hosting the Houston Texans for joint practices as planned, they should still have referees at the facility for the NFL-standard second week of work before the regular season starts in September.

But what about the penalties on Sunday night? Let’s break it down by each quarter and see if any patterns emerge.

Saints to practice in front of referees for the first time this summer vs. Chargers

The Saints won’t just be practicing against the Chargers. They’ll have an NFL officiating crew on hand for the first time this summer:

The New Orleans Saints won’t just be practicing against the Los Angeles Chargers this week. They’ll have an NFL officiating crew on hand for the first time this summer.

Head coach Dennis Allen recently observed that teams are usually given two weeks with referees at training camp to help them develop better practice habits, work on smoothing out areas of concern, and highlighting points of emphasis as annual rules changes come into effect.

Allen added that the Saints will have referees on hand for both of their joint practice sessions scheduled with the Chargers in California and the Houston Texans when they return to Louisiana next week.

They’ll need it. The Saints were fouled 9 times for 81 yards in their first preseason game, giving up a first down and wiping out several big gains; for comparison, the Kansas City Chiefs drew 7 fouls for 61 penalty yards. New Orleans still found a way to win, but those self-inflicted wounds made it more difficult than it should have been.

Offensive holding was a big problem against the Chiefs — the Saints were fouled for it 6 times, twice on special teams. Jake Haener’s interception was set up by a Jimmy Graham holding penalty that wiped out a 13-yard run for Ellis Merriweather, prompting the rookie to try a throw on 2nd-and-18. The blockers up front have got to clean up their hands, and getting a couple of days of practice in front of referees should help.

But this could be a big moment for some of the Saints’ training camp battles, too. Cornerback Paulson Adebo led the team with 10 penalties last season, though 3 of them were declined or offset by the offense. All of his fouls fell under defensive holding or defensive pass interference, and we’ll get a great idea of his progress with an officiating crew watching him carefully as he runs with talented Chargers wideouts Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Josh Palmer, and Quentin Johnston.

That might tip the scales in Alontae Taylor’s favor if Adebo is still a penalty magnet. Taylor was only fouled 5 times as a rookie (with 1 penalty declined) for defensive pass interference, defensive holding, and illegal use of hands. For context, he played 663 snaps last season, so that’s one penalty for every 132.6 reps. Adebo played 814 snaps and was penalized once every 81.4 reps on average. If all else is equal but one player hurts his team with fewer fouls, that could be a clinching factor in this heated training camp battle.

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Lack of referees threatens Southwest Florida high school football

One region in Florida may about to have a new appreciation for referees and the work they do.

Being a referee can frequently be a thankless job, no matter what league, sport or level they’re working at. That can be particularly true at the high school level, where refs also have to deal with fights in the stands and unruly parents. It’s a wonder anyone wants to sign up for the job.

One region in Florida may about to have a new appreciation for referees and the work they do.

According to a report by Jaron May at NBC2, The South Gulf Football Officials Association does not have enough officials for the 2023 high school football season.

The group expects around 75-80 people to sign up to be referees this year. The only problem is they need over 100 to officiate all the games.

SFGOA president Adam Weissberger is putting the call out for help, per CBS2.

“We need anybody who’s out there watching to come out and help us out… Get into our training classes and learn how to be an official… We want to try to put as many games on Friday night as we possibly can. To do that we need some help.”

The first games begin on August 17.

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The rampant officiating during Iowa-LSU’s women’s NCAA tournament title game made fans furious

NOBODY was happy about the officiating during Sunday’s Iowa-LSU title game.

Nobody likes it when referees dictate the pacing of a national title game, and you can bet folks were out complaining about it during Sunday’s 2023 women’s NCAA tournament championship.

One of the most anticipated women’s basketball games in quite a while, the heavyweight fight between Iowa and LSU saw its first quarter hampered by a spattering of questionable calls from the referees.

The pacing of the game like this is critical for players like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese to get in a rhythm. If the refs don’t slow the whistles down, folks will not be happy at home or in the stands.

AP women’s basketball reporter Doug Feinberg noted that the refs’ lack of familiarity with both teams might be contributing to the day’s frustrations.

Even LSU coach Kim Mulkey’s son, St. Louis Cardinals infielder Kramer Robertson, wasn’t happy about the officiating.

LeBron James riled up NBA fans with his Super Bowl holding call takes

Sports fans remember, LeBron.

NBA superstar LeBron James didn’t hide his opinion on the controversial holding call that frustrated fans during Super Bowl 57.

On that pivotal play, Philadelphia Eagles cornerback James Bradberry grabbed the jersey of Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster while the Chiefs were in the red zone toward the end of the game.

The penalty gave the Chiefs a new set of downs and time to drain the clock for the game-winning Harrison Butker field goal.

Bradberry admits that he did grab Smith-Schuster’s jersey on the play, even if holds like that get looked over by refs all the time in regular NFL games.

James, who attended Sunday’s contest, didn’t like the call and criticized it with a tweet on Sunday.

Well, sports fans didn’t take long to call out James on his thoughts. They remembered how, just a couple of weeks ago, he broke down in a meme-ified outburst about the refs missing an obvious, game-altering foul during the Los Angeles Lakers’ game with the Boston Celtics.

You know, it was the game where former Laker Patrick Beverley tried to show the ref the camera shot of James getting fouled and got a technical.

Sports fans found it a bit rich that James would get upset over a similar situation he wanted to work out in his favor.

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Tom Brady confessed the NFL’s worst-kept secret about holding on his podcast

Wait, what did Brady just say?

Tom Brady seems to have let the cat out of the bag on one of the NFL’s worst-kept secrets.

The longtime quarterback, who may or may not return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season, dropped a pretty big confessional nugget on his Let’s Go! podcast on Monday. Brady admitted that holding happens on every single play in the NFL. While that might be a bit of an exaggeration, it does make a lot of sense.

NFL fans have long thought that there is much, much more holding that goes on than referees are willing to whistle, making it always frustrating when they decide to actually throw the flag.

Brady wasn’t afraid to finally admit that holding is much more prevalent than the yellow flags will identify.

Brady has long been the king of getting calls to go his way, but not even TB12 can avoid the dreaded 10-yard holding penalty on one of his offensive linemen.

If you’ve ever watched an NFL game and have thought, “wait, that was just holding,” then you might’ve been onto something.

The former New England Patriot’s words always have a lot of clout when it comes to NFL-related issues, and he’s now added fuel to the flame that holding might be the most commonly unflagged penalty in the league…until it isn’t.

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NBA fans dunked on ‘sleepless nights’ statement from refs after missed foul on LeBron James against Celtics

Okay, calm down, NBA referees Twitter account.

The official NBA referees Twitter account earned a healthy dose of side-eye after it attempted to curry sympathy for an atrocious missed call during Lakers-Celtics Saturday night.

The weekend’s premiere NBA drama came from a whiffed no-call on Celtics standout Jayson Tatum, who clearly fouled Lakers star LeBron James as he tried to net a game-winning basket for Los Angeles at Boston.

James became instantly outraged after the missed call, one that sent the game to overtime and sparked an absolutely hilarious technical foul on Patrick Beverley.

The league had to admit to the Lakers post-game that the call was indeed blown, creating plenty of critiques of the officiating crew that was in Boston.

Well, the NBA referees have come up with a very dramatic reaction to the frustration they’ve been getting.

Sleepless nights? Are you kidding? The refs missed a big call, and they’re catching fire for it. It happens. It doesn’t mean these refs deserve to be trolled forever for it, but they’re going to get some negative vibes their way for a bit after playing such an unintentionally crucial role in the outcome of a game.