Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

The Lions sure got double-teamed by the Packers and the Officials last night.

It was an embarrassment to the league and yet another indication that there are now far too many ticky-tacky rules in the game that are impossible to call with any degree of accuracy. If only I was king...

JohnH19 wrote:The Lions sure got double-teamed by the Packers and the Officials last night.

It was an embarrassment to the league and yet another indication that there are now far too many ticky-tacky rules in the game that are impossible to call with any degree of accuracy. If only I was king...

I agree, and nearly every week it happens. You can argue with me (and I will take the blame), but I think that including judgement calls into instant replay is getting worse each week, and the officials are getting more pressure (that’s why many of them have retired in the recent years like Terry McAulay, Gene Steratore and John Parry and become rule analysts). I know that instant replay is here to stay, also for all the TV angles and more quality-image cameras, but I (call me old school) miss the days in the 70s until the mid-80s when Jim Tunney, Ben Dreith, Pat Haggerty and co.”saw what they called and called what they saw”.

I agree with both of you guys' posts above. What is pass interference anymore?

JohnH19 wrote:The Lions sure got double-teamed by the Packers and the Officials last night.

It was an embarrassment to the league and yet another indication that there are now far too many ticky-tacky rules in the game that are impossible to call with any degree of accuracy. If only I was king...

It is another case of, "I'm thinking I'm seeing something so I will throw this flag."

The official did not see Trey Flowers put a hand to the face of David Bakhtiari on those two plays because Flowers did not put a hand to the face of Bakhtiari. This is very similar to the Cameron Jordan fumble recovery touchdown from the Saints-Rams game that was not allowed because an official blew the play dead because he thought he saw something and what he thought he saw did not actually happen. If I was that geek Alberto Riveron I would instruct the officials TO NOT THROW A FLAG OR BLOW A WHISTLE BASED ON SOMETHING YOU THOUGHT YOU SAW. SEE IT, DON'T THINK IT!

Enough with this garbage already. It is costing teams games. The Lions went from first place to last place based on those calls the other night. I know early season, sample size, etc., but still.

JWL wrote:

JohnH19 wrote:The Lions sure got double-teamed by the Packers and the Officials last night.

It was an embarrassment to the league and yet another indication that there are now far too many ticky-tacky rules in the game that are impossible to call with any degree of accuracy. If only I was king...

It is another case of, "I'm thinking I'm seeing something so I will throw this flag."

The official did not see Trey Flowers put a hand to the face of David Bakhtiari on those two plays because Flowers did not put a hand to the face of Bakhtiari. This is very similar to the Cameron Jordan fumble recovery touchdown from the Saints-Rams game that was not allowed because an official blew the play dead because he thought he saw something and what he thought he saw did not actually happen. If I was that geek Alberto Riveron I would instruct the officials TO NOT THROW A FLAG OR BLOW A WHISTLE BASED ON SOMETHING YOU THOUGHT YOU SAW. SEE IT, DON'T THINK IT!

Enough with this garbage already. It is costing teams games. The Lions went from first place to last place based on those calls the other night. I know early season, sample size, etc., but still.

I admit to bias because I'm a Packer fan, but I don't think it's quite fair to say the Lions lost because of officiating. Without the second hand to the face call, which was the crucial one, Mason Crosby probably kicks a 33-yard FG to give the Packers the lead and it's doubtful that Lions can drive to within FG distance with about 1:45 on the clock and no timeouts remaining.

I'd also point out that the Lion's 4th-down TD was a very questionable call. Replay certainly didn't show the ball breaking the plane but there wasn't enough to overturn it, either. If it had not been ruled a TD and the Lions had challenged, the call on the field would have been upheld.

rhickok1109 wrote:Mason Crosby probably kicks a 33-yard FG to give the Packers the lead and it's doubtful that Lions can drive to within FG distance with about 1:45 on the clock and no timeouts remaining.

In real football it would be in the "doubtful" range. In this era? No. In this scenario I actually wouldn't be surprised if BOTH teams scored again. Lions go down the field quickly, kick a FG to take the lead with 20 or so seconds left which is enough time for the Packers to complete 2-3 passes down the field -or gain yards with help of penalties- and Crosby has a 50-something yarder chance at the win to end the game.

We see it all the time, teams easily moving the ball down the field at the end of games. Which used to be tough/a miracle drive if pulled off and now is routine -- for all the obvious reasons.

JWL wrote:Enough with this garbage already. It is costing teams games. The Lions went from first place to last place based on those calls the other night. I know early season, sample size, etc., but still.

I think the Seahawks-Browns game was the worst officiated of last week. Won't be remembered as much since it didn't have the feel of directly affecting the outcome of the game [affected both teams but the Browns had more ridiculous calls go against them so they would have a complaint but the game was so messed up from a pace, penalty and review standpoint that it wasn't really normal football game] but it was certainly worse than MNF. Not just for the asinine 'player safety' penalties that were called -- whether the two hands to the face or Tracy Walker going for an interception and having a WR dive into him and it being unnecessary roughness on Walker, none of those were as close to as bad as the 'illegal blindside block' called against Jarvis Landry. Which was literally the complete opposite of blindside and also wasn't even really a block since he just braced himself for contact. Horrible.

Game also had the usual array of phantom calls, 'player safety' penalties, blown calls, etc. But what really made it the worst officiated game, in my opinion, is from a game operations standpoint, in addition to all the bad calls. The typical annoying long review was twice as long, the officials were slow to do everything, even slow to spot the ball. It was like watching a volunteer teenage ref doing his first ever youth football game and not wanting to embarrass himself so does everything as slow and deliberate as possible, then ends up botching it all anyway adding to how ridiculous it is.

It was finally getting to the 2-minute warning and all four afternoon games had already kicked off, and two were already midway through the 1Q -- and this wasn't a morning game that was in OT or anything. Just bad officiating, bad rules and more bad officiating.

rhickok1109 wrote: I admit to bias because I'm a Packer fan, but I don't think it's quite fair to say the Lions lost because of officiating. Without the second hand to the face call, which was the crucial one, Mason Crosby probably kicks a 33-yard FG to give the Packers the lead and it's doubtful that Lions can drive to within FG distance with about 1:45 on the clock and no timeouts remaining.

I'd also point out that the Lion's 4th-down TD was a very questionable call. Replay certainly didn't show the ball breaking the plane but there wasn't enough to overturn it, either. If it had not been ruled a TD and the Lions had challenged, the call on the field would have been upheld.

The first flag extended a drive in that without the flag the Packers almost certainly would have punted. The second made the field goal try much easier and also enabled the Packers to drain the clock so that Detroit would not get the ball again.

The Kerryon Johnson 1st quarter touchdown was a judgment call because I don't think anybody except for a few players could tell if the ball broke the plane or not. I thought to myself live, "He is stopped. No, he got in. Ehh, I'm not sure." No TV angle could show where the ball was. I am in favor of touchdowns clearly being touchdowns. Therefore, I would not have called that a touchdown. It is different than the Flowers penalties, though. It would only be similar if Flowers' hand was somehow completely blocked out of any TV shots and all we had to see was part of an arm and Bakhtiari's head and all we could then do is assume and make a judgment.

What we did have is an unclear, muddied view of the Johnson touchdown and clear evidence Flowers did not put his hand in Bakhtiari's face.

Then there is also the idea that if Johnson was not awarded a touchdown, that maybe the Lions would have tackled someone in the end zone on the next play and then scored a touchdown after the kickoff and got 9 points out of the whole deal. Playing that whole what-if game is another thing.

Whistle Awarded Game Ball after Buccaneers-Titans Game

JWL wrote:Whistle Awarded Game Ball after Buccaneers-Titans Game

Was watching as it happened. Incredibly annoying. Would have been a TD for TB.