Thursday Night Football: Green Bay at Detroit

[ExpatPack]

Funny, coming from a guy who never had to make that call in a game, on the field. SMFH


Defenders head was turned, and he was making a play on the ball. If anything it looked like OPI, with the reciever grabbing and pulling the defender down field, away from the ball.

I saw it again, heard Blandino's explanation and yes I've changed my mind. Was a good no-call.

 

[ExpatPack]

Calling the facemask a blatantly bad call is an exaggeration at best. As Blandino said, refs will call something like this every time. Watching the replay in slo mo it's very clear that the defender has his thumb inside the helmet for an instant and as he drags has hand forward across the shoulder pad it causes Rodgers' head to turn. It was definitely not all shoulder, there was facemask in there too just briefly, but that's all it takes to throw the flag.

 

[Brewskies]

Just another game with officiating issues. When is it going to stop?

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

Just another game with officiating issues. When is it going to stop?

I think both calls were correct. It's the inconsistency that bothers me. It it were the Pats the DPI would have been called. I also think the penalties are too severe. 1st downs and are killing games. You can literally win games on your opponents penalties. It's too easy for a biased ref to sway the games. ie (Denver)

 

[varjao]

The Lions should be 6-6 right now instead of 4-8

 

[NashuaPats]

I feel like the officials are no longer using common sense. They used to know that you don't call ticky tack penalties in game changing situations. You don't call Gronk for a ticky tack, if not phantom, OPI on 3rd and 5 late in a game. You don't call that DPI on Chung especially when it was irrelevant to the play on that sack. And you don't call that inadvertent face mask with no time remaining on the 25 yard line on a desperation lateral play. You let the players decide the game and they used to understand that. The NFL must be putting too much pressure on them to make every call.

 

[TBR]

Calling the facemask a blatantly bad call is an exaggeration at best. As Blandino said, refs will call something like this every time. Watching the replay in slo mo it's very clear that the defender has his thumb inside the helmet for an instant and as he drags has hand forward across the shoulder pad it causes Rodgers' head to turn. It was definitely not all shoulder, there was facemask in there too just briefly, but that's all it takes to throw the flag.

This isn't even debatable. I'm not sure why you're even trying. It was a blatantly bad call.

He did not twist or pull the facemask whatsoever. He slightly grazed it with the tip of his finger. Incidental contact like that is not a penalty. This is a fact. 99.99% of what he grabbed/touched was the shoulder pad. Even grabbing the facemask and releasing it without pulling, twisting, etc. is not a penalty by rule.

And you can cling to Blandino's explanation all you want to make you feel better, but the reality is he's wrong and he's just covering up for the league and refs yet again. The ref with the best view did not throw his flag. And for good reason. Only the ref who was behind the play with Rodgers' back facing him threw his flag. He literally guessed and assumed it was a facemask.

 

[vyrago]

True story... I thought I'd pull up the "know how I know you're gay" meme as a joke, and this one was the very first to come up:



know how i know you're gay - Google Search

And just what is wrong with that?

 

[Fixit]

Calling the facemask a blatantly bad call is an exaggeration at best. As Blandino said, refs will call something like this every time. Watching the replay in slo mo it's very clear that the defender has his thumb inside the helmet for an instant and as he drags has hand forward across the shoulder pad it causes Rodgers' head to turn. It was definitely not all shoulder, there was facemask in there too just briefly, but that's all it takes to throw the flag.

You're just wrong. There was no pulling or twisting on the facemask at all. It was all shoulder.

What made it worse is that the ref just assumed the penalty. Refs should only throw personal foul flags when they're sure.

 

[Zeus]

For the second time this season in a prime time game, the Lions got jobbed by the zebras.

It's no great surprise to anyone that Dean Blandino is lying through his teeth (again) to defend the call.

Having said that, the Lions' execution of the Hail Mary was a textbook on how not to defend the play.

As for the Packers, they're a blown call and a prayer away from 7-5 after starting 6-0. What exactly is the story here? This team fell off a cliff. Does anybody know why?

 

[Concussion Protocol]

That was tough. 100% looked like a personal foul facemask at full speed. Definitely wasn't one in reality. The zebra heard hooves and thought horses. Unfortunately for the zebra, it was a zebra.

 

[Huckleberry1]

That's all on Detroit, 2 score lead with 3 minutes to go should be put away every time.

 

[upstater1]

That was tough. 100% looked like a personal foul facemask at full speed. Definitely wasn't one in reality. The zebra heard hooves and thought horses. Unfortunately for the zebra, it was a zebra.

This is exactly right. You can't blame the refs here. If you were a ref, you would have thrown the flag there. It was not a penalty, but it was also not reviewable. If the owner of the Lions opposed Belichick's suggestion that a call like this is reviewable, then he only has himself to blame.

 

[chasa]

That's all on Detroit, 2 score lead with 3 minutes to go should be put away every time.

they did put it away, then the refs gave the packers an extra play

 

[aluminum seats]

This is exactly right. You can't blame the refs here. If you were a ref, you would have thrown the flag there. It was not a penalty, but it was also not reviewable. If the owner of the Lions opposed Belichick's suggestion that a call like this is reviewable, then he only has himself to blame.

I'm surprised at all the caterwauling about this--of course that's going to be called, it would get called if it happened to Brady, and nobody here would say it shouldn't be.

Good comeback by Green Bay, they got the miracle at the end which happens every now and then. Fun to watch. Stop being a bunch of damn babies.

 

[Fixit]

This is exactly right. You can't blame the refs here. If you were a ref, you would have thrown the flag there. It was not a penalty, but it was also not reviewable. If the owner of the Lions opposed Belichick's suggestion that a call like this is reviewable, then he only has himself to blame.

I think we can blame the ref who threw the flag as he had no view of it. They shouldn't assume a penalty, especially when an official with a better view didn't throw a flag.

And no, if my view was of Rodgers' back, I wouldn't have thrown the flag.

 

[AzorianPats]

Just another game with officiating issues. When is it going to stop?

Heres the honest truth, as much as the officials royally screwed us on sunday, there's not a team thats had more bogus officiating go against them the past year like the Lions.

 

[Fixit]

I'm surprised at all the caterwauling about this--of course that's going to be called, it would get called if it happened to Brady, and nobody here would say it shouldn't be.

Good comeback by Green Bay, they got the miracle at the end which happens every now and then. Fun to watch. Stop being a bunch of damn babies.

Seriously? "Quit complaining about a blown ball that swung a game?"

 

[Bill Lee]

They deserved to lose

As Clint Eastwood said in Unforgiven, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it"...

As Blandino said, refs will call something like this every time.

As the person in charge of the referees, shouldn't he focus on getting the refs to do what they are supposed to do instead of justifying what they actually did do, which was get the call wrong?

Nah, this is the NFL, it's all about the optics...

Goody and Blandy can now slap each other on the back for their part in keeping Aaron Rodgers in the playoff hunt. Granted Detroit is pretty culpable too, but the NFL is supposed to be providing a "level playing field" and they failed yet again.

 

[SalemPats]

Refs do it again. The referee was right next to Rodgers, he should have been clearly able to see it was not a facemasking. This changes the whole NFC playoff picture.