The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Cries and moans about perceived poor officiating in the NFL this season seem to be louder and more often than usual. Maybe it’s because the season is a game longer now, or maybe it’s because more fans have more TV access to more games than ever before, or maybe it’s because there are more commentators on more platforms than ever and because fans have more ways than ever to express their views.
And who knows? — maybe the officiating isn’t as good this season as it’s been in the past. Only the chief of NFL officials would know that. And he’s not saying.
But a lot of us are. You can slam officials on everything from Facebook to “Insta” to TikTok — if you know how to work all those things. (Some of us don’t.)
Unlike fans, the players and coaches are wise to temper their comments about officiating or face getting fined. That threat didn’t stop Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett Sunday for calling the officiating in Sunday’s game against Jacksonville a “travesty” and “honestly awful.”
And his team WON.
Much more publicized and dramatic was what happened in Kansas City, where the homestanding Chiefs had a touchdown (that included a lateral pass) called back because a KC receiver had lined up offsides. The score and extra point would have given Kansas City a four-point lead with a minute to play; instead, three Patrick Mahomes incompletions later, the Chiefs were 20-17 losers to Buffalo.
After that game, Kansas City players and even some broadcasters complained that such a “little” penalty shouldn’t decide the game. The quarterback blamed it on the ref. The coach said “it’s a bit embarrassing for the National Football League” for a dramatic play and score so late in the game to be wiped out by an offsides penalty.
Which is all fine except the professional wide receiver lined up offsides. He has been playing since he was 6 and has been practicing for this season since July. It was the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ 13th game of the year.
And it’s the first rule in most sports: you have to be on one side of a line or another at some point. Think of all the lines drawn on fields and courts and tracks. You can’t have a sport without a line like you can’t have a trial with a manila folder.
Yet it’s the fault of the official. It’s not dropped passes or turnovers or blown assignments that have the defending Super Bowl champs at 8-5. Neg. It’s somebody else’s fault. Like the official’s. For calling the receiver offsides. For being offsides. For dropping the flag as soon as the ball was snapped.
What a joke. The officials were right and some people are still mad.
It’s just a game and not life or death and the world will continue to spin. Still it’s funny when even professionals, obviously in error, blame someone or something else when things are going badly.
Like playing any sport at a high level, officiating is demanding and an inexact science. It’s my pleasure to know officials at every level of sports, and the ones I know love it and train for it and take it seriously, just as the players do. The imperfections of players and officials and even the journalists who cover them will never go away.
None of this is new, even though there have been several stories this fall questioning officiating. I’ve kept a few dozen Sports Illustrated covers through the years. The one I’m looking at today pictures Terry Bradshaw — then Pittsburgh’s quarterback and probably why I kept the cover — pleading with an official. This is the headline:
“The Refs: Uproar in the NFL”
The date is October 9 of 1978.
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu
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