With 7:36 left in Saturday’s slopfest of a game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, referee Brad Allen and his crew stopped play for a penalty announcement. If you’ve followed Allen’s “work” throughout the season, you know that there was going to be a high “Choose Your Own Adventure” possibility here.
And indeed, there was. The penalty was called against tight end Connor Heyward on a punt by Jordan Stout of the Ravens. And since Allen was involved, we all had to stop and take a break while Allen figured it out with the help of down judge Sarah Thomas. You can see Allen and Thomas discussing the play, Allen signaling a holding penalty against… the Ravens, Allen and Thomas discussing it again, and Allen getting it right with a penalty on the Steelers.
“No, Brad… it’s on the Steelers.” pic.twitter.com/1h7DeguL54
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) January 6, 2024
This, of course, wouldn’t be the first time Allen called a penalty on the wrong team this season. In fact, it wasn’t the first time Allen called a penalty on the wrong team in the last calendar week. Let’s travel back to last Saturday night’s embarrassment in a crucial game between the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys.
With 2:05 left in the game, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard hit a seven-yard gain on first-and-10 from the Detroit 29-yard line. This was the play after Jared Goff’s interception to safety Donovan Wilson, and at this point, the Cowboys could run the clock down and seal a victory up 17-13.
But Allen called tight end Peyton Hendershot for tripping, which negated the run and put the ball 15 yards back at the Detroit 44-yard line. Mike McCarthy’s three-play passing sequence, which took just 11 seconds off the clock, followed, and that was its own disaster. But let’s focus on the tripping call.
Here is the other one: not a great angle but there is no way Hendershot should have been called for tripping. Hutchinson? Perhaps. Holding? Maybe. But no way on tripping. Will need to see the all 22. pic.twitter.com/DRbafoxjrw
— Bob Sturm (@SportsSturm) December 31, 2023
Here’s the All-22.
Hendershot was facing Lions edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson on the play, and there was an attempt at tripping. But the overhead and end zone angles show that it was Hutchinson who made the attempt. On the overhead view, you can dee down judge Sarah Thomas throw the flag from the lower sideline. How Allen managed to extrapolate tripping on Hendershot is a mystery. Could Hendershot been busted for a hold? Maybe… but had this been called correctly, the worst that would have happened for the Cowboys was offsetting penalties and replaying the down. Not a 15-yard deficit that changed the complexion of the Cowboys’ drive.
Just another day ending in “Y” for the NFL’s worst referee, who is working a game with playoff implications. At least this one got corrected before it was official.
