Questionable NFL officiating again takes the spotlight in Week 8
An erroneous whistle took a defensive touchdown away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers An early whistle cost the New York Giants a fumble recovery on a tush push It was a rough Sunday for NFL functionaries Giants coach Brian Daboll was apoplectic after Darius Slayton was penalized for offensive pass interference negating a -yard TD catch in the fourth quarter of a - loss to the Philadelphia Eagles Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell held Slayton s jersey and arm on the play but Slayton got flagged in one of the greater part egregious blown calls of the season I m not going to comment on what I think on executives They call it and we got to play it Daboll commented doing his best to avoid a fine Earlier in the encounter Jalen Hurts lost the ball when he stretched his arms after gaining a first down on a tush push on fourth-and- inside the red zone Kayvon Thibodeaux ripped the ball away from Hurts for what should ve been a fumble recovery in a battle that was tied at - at the time A whistle could be heard on replay about the same time or after the ball came out but executives ruled Hurts forward progress had been stopped The Eagles kept the ball and finished the drive with a touchdown The refs have a hard job because they don t know when to stop it Thibodeaux revealed about the tush push In New Orleans Tampa Bay s Antoine Winfield Jr picked up a fumble and returned it yards for a points with the Buccaneers leading - in the second quarter But an official blew his whistle after the recovery so the Buccaneers got the ball but lost the points Neither club stopped playing after the whistle which came from the other side of the field The official thought the runner was down referee Ron Torbert stated a pool reporter We were able to award the defense the ball after the fumble but because the whistle had been blown we could not award the advance afterward The Buccaneers beat the Saints - so the mistake didn t impact the outcome but poor officiating is inevitably a concern I m still ticked off over chosen of it Bucs coach Todd Bowles stated We ve got to do something We ll discuss that with the league and go from there Penalties were up from last season through Week The increase in flags is mostly attributed to the rise in kickoff returns due to the rule change With more teams returning more kickoffs there s more opportunities for penalties Still it often seems like there s a flag whenever there s a big play Teams routinely have to delay their celebration when they outcome until they know if the penalty is on the offense or defense Broadcasters have pointed this out during games It slows down the pace of the match and makes it less entertaining Mentee beats the mentor Aaron Rodgers looked like a -year-old quarterback facing one of the best defensive players in the NFL in Pittsburgh s - loss to Green Bay Micah Parsons only had one sack but his presence and pressures forced two other sacks and made Rodgers feel uncomfortable all night Rodgers never got in a rhythm and the Steelers couldn t sustain a large number of drives or finish other ones settling for four field goals with one touchdown Of syllabus they would ve needed vintage Rodgers to beat the Packers because Pittsburgh s defense was awful for the second straight tournament After giving up yards and points to Joe Flacco and the Bengals in a loss to Cincinnati days earlier the Steelers couldn t stop Jordan Love and Green Bay s offense The Packers had yards Love who considers Rodgers a mentor and friend outplayed the quarterback he watched from the sideline for three years It s definitely special Sunday Night Football to come out here we faced a little adversity in the first half bounced back we knew it was going to be a hyped-up contest all week going against A-Rod so I was just glad we came in here and handled business Love commented On Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week For more On Football analysis head here AP NFL https apnews com hub nfl Source
