Usually, NFL officiating in any one game can be so poorly called that both teams have a legitimate laundry list of gripes to complain about. But sometimes, one call is so egregious, so lopsided against one team, that it’s hard not to wonder what the referees on hand were looking at.
That’s exactly what happened during a bizarre sequence on Sunday when the Dallas Cowboys were backed up against their own goal line in a battle with the Baltimore Ravens.
READ MORE: Dak Prescott’s suggestion to concerned Cowboys fans was so weak
With Dallas facing a third-and-long, Baltimore star defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike pressured Prescott and appeared to secure a safety by bringing the quarterback down in the end zone. There was one glaring problem, though. While being brought to the turf, Prescott shoveled off a pass to Dallas left guard Tyler Smith to clearly try and avoid a safety.
Uh, yeah, you can’t do that.
But rather than cite Prescott for intentional grounding and give the Ravens the two points they earned, the referees instead prioritized calling Smith for illegal touching as an offensive lineman, which, yes, still penalized the Cowboys, but it saved them from disaster:
https://twitter.com/TheComebackNFL/status/1837969813106483342
After the game, Ravens veteran linebacker Kyle Van Noy took to his Twitter account to question the logic behind how this sequence was officiated. Van Noy jokingly claimed he didn’t know that illegal touching by a lineman could nullify a safety in pro football. He was right to question the process:
https://twitter.com/KVN_03/status/1838035546494423125
On Monday, reigning MVP Lamar Jackson caught wind of Van Noy’s assessment and piled on the controversy. Jackson joked that the referees would’ve almost certainly penalized him for intentional grounding and given the Cowboys a safety if the situation had been reversed.
You know, given Dallas’ status as a marquee NFL team seemingly appearing on national television every week, Jackson probably isn’t wrong:
https://twitter.com/Lj_era8/status/1838320045723677052
Oh, well. All’s well that ends well. At least this strange non-safety sequence didn’t come back to bite the Ravens, who managed to hang on for their first win of the 2024 season. Nonetheless, it’s still worth wondering about how the officials screwed this play up so badly that multiple players are complaining about it in public.
These kinds of plays and calls — where popular/famous teams are involved, no less — are never a great look for the NFL.
