Perhaps the NFL’s officials were confused by the fact that there were games on Saturday and Sunday in Week 15. Perhaps the NFL’s officials were thinking about the last-minute things on their holiday shopping lists. Or maybe it was just late-season exhaustion. Whatever it was, there were a lot of really bad calls in the NFL’s Week 15, and that’s in a season where there have been a lot to date.
Bad officiating is especially notable in the 2022 season, and Week 15 really stood out. Here’s why it’s a problem. Through Sunday’s games, there have been an NFL-record 101 games decided by a touchdown or less.
Per NFL Research, 14 of 15 games that have been completed in Week 15 have been within one score (eight points) in the fourth quarter and there have been 171 games within one score (eight points) in the fourth quarter this season, the most such games through the first 15 weeks in NFL history.
More than ever, the NFL’s idea of competitive balance has come true, but also more than ever, the NFL’s purported idea of officiating competence has been exposed as perhaps an unreachable goal.
Clearly, changes need to be made in the offseason, but before we get into that, let’s review the three games in which the most bad calls happened, and how those calls affected the final result.
Chandon Sullivan's touchdowns that weren't.
Not that it mattered in the end, as the Minnesota Vikings engineered the greatest comeback in NFL history in their 39-36 overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts, but the Vikings also had two fumble return touchdowns by cornerback Chandon Sullivan reversed in this game, and neither reversal made a lot of sense.
With 7:03 left in the first half, and the Colts already up 23-0, Indianapolis quarterback Matt Ryan threw a short pass to receiver Michael Pittman, who fumbled at the Indianapolis 40-yard line. At that point, cornerback Chandon Sullivan picked the ball up and rumbled for a touchdown.
Or so he thought. Referee Tra Blake ruled that Pittman’s forward progress had been stopped, negating the touchdown.
“The ruling on the field was that the runner’s forward progress had been stopped,” Blake told pool reporter Chip Scoggins of the Minneapolis Star Tribune after the game. “Once he’s wrapped up by the defender and his forward progress is stopped, the play is over. So, any action that happens subsequently after that is nullified because the play is dead. That was the ruling on the field.”
Sounds good, except that’s not what happened. On the replay, you can see that Sullivan had Pittman in the grasp, Pittman was arching forward, trying to make extra yards, and it was the hit by linebacker Brian Asamoah that rocked Pittman back. Sullivan stripped the ball just after Pittman moved backward, so we don’t actually know whether Pittman would have kept trying to make additional yards were it not for that hit. If you want to argue that Asamoah’s hit stopped Pittman’s forward progress, that’s an entirely different matter.
There is also the small matter of when the whistle was blown, signifying a dead ball.
The official blew this dead after the ball came out. pic.twitter.com/wfHsbA30I8
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) December 18, 2022
“We see plays where running backs extend plays or plays not be blown as fast,” Scoggins asked Blake. “How do you determine when forward progress is? Is there a certain amount of time?
“Forward progress ends once the runner is not making progress towards his goal line any longer. Once we determine that, the play is over.”
Blake also confirmed that forward progress calls are not reviewable, for whatever nonsensical reason.
Sullivan’s bad luck with this particular crew was only beginning. With 3:28 left in regulation, Indy running back Deon Jackson clearly fumbled at his own 38-yard line. Sullivan picked the ball up, and appeared to score another return touchdown.
No dice, as Blake once again ruled against him. This time, the call was that Jackson was down by contact, which clearly wasn’t the case. Upon review, the Vikings were awarded the ball, but there was nothing to be done about the touchdown that should have counted and didn’t. The score was 36-28 Colts at that point, so Blake and his crew were pretty fortunate that the comeback that happened, happened.
This play should be a touchdown for Chandon Sullivan pic.twitter.com/coAnIdkwKC
— Sean Borman (@SeanBormanNFL) December 17, 2022
“The original ruling on the field was that the runner that was in the pile was down by contact,” NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Walt Anderson told Scoggins. “Subsequently, a Minnesota player got it back. We had a look and could tell right away that the runner was still up when the ball came loose. We had a good view that it was a clear recovery by Minnesota No. 39. But the ruling on the field was the runner was down by contact. There was a subsequent loose ball and then a recovery by Minnesota and an advance. Minnesota challenged that and by the time they challenged, we had good views. We had an expedited review to announce that it was a fumble, and we had a clear recovery. But all we could do was give Minnesota the ball at the spot of the recovery.
“It’s technically a dead ball when the officials rule that he’s down by contact. However, the replay rules do allow you to award the defense the ball if that recovery is clearly a fumble and if that recovery is in the immediate continuing action from when the ball comes loose. But you cannot give an advance.”
After the ruling, Sullivan was handed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike contact penalty for taking his helmet off and throwing it on the field, and who on earth could have blamed him?
This, Blake and his crew seemed to see unusually clearly.
“I could feel why he was so frustrated,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said of Sullivan. “The first one, they just ruled forward progress stopped. When they do that, doesn’t matter if I agree or disagree with the call. It’s out of my hands at that point. I cannot challenge that. Then I was able to challenge the other one and get that ball out, get that ball back. Some of those stops defensively we had, we just kept on urging them to keep going at the football, see if we can change the game, which we thought we did at that one point, but unfortunately we didn’t. Sully is one of those guys that keeps battling. Veteran player, smart, tough. You don’t win a game like this and hold the team to three points in the second half without guys like Sully gutting it out.”
The NFL has discussed points of emphasis over the years regarding officials holding their whistles on fumbles they think aren’t fumbles to avoid this exact scenario, but we are where we are with that.
The mystery touchdown pass from Derek Carr to Keelan Cole.
We’ll obviously be talking about the unfortunate lateral attempt from New England Patriots receiver Jakobi Meyers to quarterback Mac Jones, and Las Vegas Raiders edge-rusher Chandler Jones’ game-winning recovery of said lateral, for years. It was one of the more bat-crazy endings to a game in NFL history.
But the touchdown that tied the game at 24 with 32 seconds left is worthy of equal scrutiny. That’s when Raiders quarterback Derek Carr threw what looked like a great 30-yard touchdown pass to receiver Keelan Cole. Referee Ron Torbert ruled that it was a catch, and after a very long review and communication with the NFL’s command center, the call was upheld.
In #NEvsLV, the ruling on the field was a touchdown. After review, there was no clear and obvious visual evidence to overturn the on-field ruling. pic.twitter.com/dFJag9y7rA
— NFL Officiating (@NFLOfficiating) December 19, 2022
In such a review, you’re looking for a few things. You’re looking for any clear and obvious angle showing that the receiver was out of bounds. Perhaps if there was an overhead view which confirmed that Cole’s left toe didn’t come in, in bounds…
Huh.
Or, perhaps if there was video evidence that Cole’s foot hit the boundary… say, chalk flying up in the air.
Oh. As John McEnroe used to like to say in his tantrums directed at tennis officials, “Chalk flew up!”
Still, per pool reporter Mike Reiss of ESPN, Anderson insisted that “We looked at every available angle and it was not clear and obvious that the foot was on the white. It was very tight, very close. There was no shot that we could see – we even enhanced and blew up the views that we had. There was nothing that was clear and obvious that his foot was touching the white.”
Well, if Anderson and his crew at Command Central had simply taken a look at the multiple replays from FOX Sports, they would have found one angle that made it clear and obvious.
“Well, this is really close,” FOX rules analyst and former VP of Officiating Dean Blandino said on the telecast. “The whole thing is the left foot, and is any part of that left foot touching the sideline? The best look we have is that overhead end zone shot. This is the best look. He has control, he’s going to get the right foot in bounds. It looks like the left toe is out of bounds in this shot. It has to be clear and obvious to overturn. If I’m looking at this, I see it out of bounds, but we’ll see what New York does in this situation.”
Anderson also said that he didn’t have a “down the sideline” view to aid in the review.
“No, we did not. Probably the best view was what we term a ‘high end zone’ view. TV gave us the most enhanced view that they had as well. We blew it up and I believe TV blew it up and there was nothing that was clear and obvious either way. Had the ruling on the field been incomplete, we would not have been able to change that either.”
So, the same high end zone view that showed Cole’s left foot just out of bounds was not enough to overturn.
“I mean, I obviously saw him catch the ball,” Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels said after the game. “I think the biggest thing they were trying to determine was, was there really a clear angle that you can say without a shadow of a doubt that has to be overturned. And usually when they call it a touchdown and it takes that long, if you’re the team that wants it to be a touchdown, that’s usually a good sign. So, I think they were struggling with trying to determine whether or not his toe was actually on the white or did his foot hit and then eventually got to the white, or did it not hit the white. So, they just said it was inconclusive and so they left it up.”
When Carr was asked about it, he revisited the “Tuck Rule” game.
“I mean, I was like, ‘A Patriot-Raider game ending in a review.’ I remember a lot of things. I remember I was in Bakersfield, California, it’s nighttime and I was watching Charles Woodson strip the ball from Tom Brady. And I don’t know how old I was, but I was sitting there with my dad watching the game. I remember my rookie year, we go down on a two-minute drive, we run in the end zone and all sudden there’s a flag. The next play, I throw it to my receiver, checking it down, it bounces and Vince Wilfork picks it. I’m just like, ‘Can we please just have one go our way.’ And when they showed that one view where you saw his [Keelan Cole’s] cleat hit the grass, and then his foot went down, you’re like, ‘Oh.’ We started going nuts. And then the ref next to us said, ‘Touchdown.’ And we went nuts.”
Had the catch been overturned as it should have been, the Raiders would have had third-and-10 at the New England 30-yard line, and time for a few more shots at the end zone. Maybe they score that touchdown anyway, in a more legitimate fashion. But that, we’ll never know.
The series of disasters that broke the Washington Commanders.
Before we get into what happened to the Washington Commanders as a result of the mistakes made by John Hussey’s crew, we should point out that Hussey’s crew was really bad on both sides. The New York Giants fared no better until the last seconds of the game.
Some more to add: Thibs being poked in the eye, Richie James being tackled in the middle of the field on his route, Big Dex being held on the final drive, Thibs being held early in the second half and the Heinicke fumble that would have been returned for a TD if called properly. https://t.co/826dSs8cno
— TheGiantsWire (@TheGiantsWire) December 19, 2022
Now, onto what happened to the Commanders.
With 56 seconds left, the Commanders had fourth-and-goal from the New York six-yard line. After a scramble, quarterback Taylor Heinicke threw incomplete to receiver Curtis Samuel. The reason the pass was incomplete is that Giants cornerback Darnay Holmes was draped all over Samuel throughout the play. But there was no flag from Hussey and his crew.
“Pass interference is a judgment call,” Hussey told pool reporter Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “To the officials, it didn’t rise to what they felt was a restriction, thus they didn’t call it. That’s basically the bottom line there. It’s a judgment call and they didn’t believe it was pass interference.”
4th down, game on the line, and the refs call absolutely nothing here on Darnay Holmes all over Curtis Samuel #NYGvsWAS pic.twitter.com/jTa2W7sE86
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) December 19, 2022
Fascinating that Hussey mentioned “the officials” as if he wasn’t one of them, but whatever. After two kneeldowns by Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, the game was over, and the Giants won, 20-12.
“It’s clearly a foul,” NBC rules analyst and former NFL official Terry McAulay said right after the game. “Grabs his arm, plays through the back, it’s clearly before the ball gets there. This is defensive pass interference, and it really should be called whether it’s the end of the game, beginning of the game, doesn’t matter. It’s always a foul. It should have been called… if it’s a foul in the first minute of the game, it’s a foul in the last minute of the game. When it’s that obvious, it has to be called.”
McAulay then dove into the touchdown scored by Washington running back Brian Robinson with 1:03 left in the game, that was negated by an illegal formation penalty on receiver Terry McLaurin. McAulay said that he wouldn’t have called that one. It looked as if McLaurin checked with line judge Carl Johnson to make sure he was on the line of scrimmage, to no avail.
he doesn’t tell him to move up does he? he just starts reaching for the flag. Am I losing my mind lol pic.twitter.com/UGeIK7NdWK
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) December 19, 2022
“That’s just too technical,” McAulay said. “We watch the wide receivers… they’re in the vicinity… technically, he’s off the line, but it’s just too technical. Especially without warning, it shouldn’t have been called.”
Hussey saw it differently… or, to be more specific, he didn’t see it at all.
“Well, I didn’t see any of that, because I’m in the backfield,” Hussey said.. “What I was told and what has been confirmed is that the ball was snapped at the half-yard line, and he was lined up a yard back at the one-and-a-half-yard line. In order to be deemed legal he needs to break the belt line, the waist of the center, and he was not breaking the waistline of the center. That’s why the penalty was called, because he was not in a legal formation.”
When asked whether Johnson was obligated to tell McLaurin whether he was at the line of scrimmage or not, Hussey said this:
“Not typically, and the official could be doing other things, like counting the offense – there’s a multitude of different duties. So, I can’t confirm whether the official even saw that or not, but he was clearly off the line of scrimmage.”
Taylor Heinicke is miffed at the penalty called against Terry McLaurin. “He gives the thumbs-up to Terry, what the f— is that?” he just said to himself at his locker.
Terry confirms that the ref OK’d his alignment before the snap. “I pride myself on paying attention to details”
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) December 19, 2022
Listen to Terry McLaurin explain that he heard the official tell him he was good, then the official threw a flagged for illegal formation. @wusa9 #HTTC pic.twitter.com/Rsvl6Cmcrh
— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) December 19, 2022
Washington head coach Ron Rivera wasn’t happy about that call at all, as you might expect.
Ron Rivera on the Giants loss – “It pisses me off” pic.twitter.com/EvycJ5dZgB
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) December 19, 2022
Rivera was then asked about the no-call on Holmes, and the veteran coach knew that anything he said about it could and would be used against him when it came time to levy fines.
#Commanders HC Ron Rivera asked about the officiating tonight “Don’t ask me about the refereeing because I can't answer the question."pic.twitter.com/gvc9GXmgHN
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 19, 2022
How can the NFL fix this?
- Step one would be to make every call reviewable. Not to have more coach reviews in-game, but simply to make everything reviewable. Clearly, the officials didn’t like the fact that pass interference became reviewable in 2019, and it didn’t take long for the NFL to take that back off the table. But judgment calls should be reviewable, whether the refs like it or not. We should be past the “human element” argument.
- Speaking of the human element, the NFL now has player tracking and technology on the field to an amazing degree. Why are we still subject to the whims of a bunch of guys on the field and in New York City, deciding whether this or that player is in or out of bounds, or whether this or that player scored a touchdown or not?
- We are seeing far more pool reporters interviewing officials and Anderson after games, which tells you something right there. But why aren’t officials holding post-game press conferences to answer questions from all reporters, just like coaches and players are? As they have certainly proven this season, officials can be as important to the final result as coaches and players can be.
- The NFL tells us that it grades every official after every game, though you’d be hard-pressed to believe it based on some of the playoff and Super Bowl assignments we’ve seen. Why aren’t those grades made public? Hiding officials from media scrums, and making their grades private when there are more player stats and grades than ever, doesn’t do a lot for accountability.
