You feel for that kicker with the clean uniform who misses a last-second field goal and loses a game for players who were beaten and battered for the previous 59-plus minutes. Referees are paid to officiate (to the best of their abilities) games and in the month of December, these are contests that have serious ramifications for the teams on the field.
Yes, they’re human but they’re also supposed to be the best the National Football League has to offer. But as they also say in football, “On any given Sunday”….
Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores ran across the field after his team lost, went to the nearest official and told him with an expletive what he thought of a pass-interference reversal that cost his team a win. And you thought that would be the worst moment for NFL referees on Sunday
If there’s one truth about the NFL, it’s that the officials can always lower the bar. On Sunday they deserved every word Flores said to them, and whatever Bill Belichick said to them too.
Sunday’s New England Patriots loss turned into a fiasco. Fans often believe officials call games to favor the Patriots, but the officials showed Sunday that their mistakes have no bias.
— Yahoo Sports, 12/9/19
…
Some teams are trying to back into the playoffs, thus players and coaches hope to justify their jobs for next season.
“This isn’t about me at all. It’s about those players, the coaches, the cafeteria people and the equipment staff and everybody in this organization. We all put a lot into this. Winning is important to us.”
— Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins head coach
Some teams are vying for playoff seeding. These goals should be determined by said players and coaches and not referees; some who can barely make it up and down the field, let alone see plays unfold mere feet from where they’re standing.
It was a huge loss for the Patriots. They now have almost no chance to get the No. 1 seed in the AFC and could end up losing the No. 2 seed to the Chiefs. Had the officiating been better, they might not have lost.
Instant replay was supposed to make sure referees got the call right, but if everyone in the stadium (not to mention nationally-televised audiences) can see what happened on the field and bad calls are allowed to stand, what good are they?
Full disclosure: We are pre-2001, lifelong New England Patriots fans.
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