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Bad NFL official ruins another NFL prime time game

by November 8, 2024

When the NFL has lost Al Michaels, it has an unquestionable problem.

And that’s where we are Friday morning, following another prime time game that ended in controversy caused by deeply troubling officiating on Thursday Night Football.

“Too many games end this way,” Michaels said after the Baltimore Ravens beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 35-34. “They just do. 

“You miss calls. The whole thing. So frustrating for the fans. So frustrating.”

No-call may decide the game

The Bengals and Ravens played an incredibly entertaining game for 59 minutes and 22 seconds. And all the while, Baltimore gave the crowd a 35-34 lead, with the Bengals going for a potentially game-winning 2-point play in the final 38 seconds.

Then Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw an incomplete pass on that 2-point play.

And apparently that was it.

Except Ravens defensive end Nnamdi Madubuike hit Burrow’s facemask with his left hand. Quarterbacks in the pocket may only be hit from the shoulder to just above the knees.

Madubuike accidentally grabbed Burrow’s facemask and the whole country saw the quarterback’s helmet rattle as he released the pass that fell incomplete.

Face mask cannot be checked

It was a penalty according to the letter of the rules. And if it had been called, it might have changed the course of the game because it would have given the Bengals another chance for another 2-point conversion from one yard closer.

That never happened.

No call. No repetition, as such pieces are not subject to re-examination.

Ravens win.

Burrow: I never get those calls

Most of the questions in the Bengals’ subsequent press conferences revolved around Cincy coach Zac Taylor going for the 2-point play in the final minute to try to win the game rather than kicking the extra point to tie the game.

But that decision to go for 2 resulted in Burrow not receiving a face mask. And the thing is, there were apparently several fouls on the Ravens in this game that went unpunished, including a defensive tackle aside from the facemask.

“Yeah, most of the time in this situation you don’t get those calls,” Burrow said.

And what about the face mask?

“You know, I feel like I never really got those calls, so I don’t really expect that,” Burrow said after a deep sigh. “I felt like there was a couple that was close, but I don’t expect that either.”

Pattern of missing face masks

Here’s the problem: Too many NFL games end this way. Or sometimes being so decisive. And that’s not what fans should expect, despite Burrow’s pessimistic expectations.

You’ll recall that on Thursday, October 24th, the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30-20.

The final score sounds like the Rams won a convincing two-point game. But the game was actually a one-score, 28-20 game with 1:42 to play when Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold dropped back into his end zone for a second-down pass.

He was sacked by Rams linebacker Byron Young during the game. The play resulted in a safety because Darnold went down in the end zone. Rams win.

At least that’s what the playbook says.

The Phantom Face Mask

In fact, Young grabbed Darnold’s face mask on the play. But it wasn’t called out by an officer standing less than 5 meters away. And again, the piece cannot be reviewed, even though it was a goal play.

Ironically, days later, the NFL fined Young $7,014.19 for stealing Darnold’s face mask. So the league basically admitted that what Young did was against the rules.

But we’ll never know if the Vikings might have been able to score a touchdown for a touchdown and a 2-point conversion because the play ignored the entire situation.

And that’s starting to border on the ridiculous when fans watching at home can see a blatant foul, but the league doesn’t do anything about it until days later – maybe.

The solution to face mask problems

So here’s a solution: Next spring, the NFL competition committee will meet in a sunny part of the country before the league’s annual meetings. It would serve the integrity of the game if this committee remembered the feeling that followed the Rams’ win and the Ravens’ win on Thursday.

Instead of celebrating good games that were hard fought and played fairly, the NFL left us with a black eye. With question marks over his ability to officiate games – including using replay technology.

This is the moment next spring when the NFL should abandon the mask requirement and make it non-verifiable.

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