A few weeks into the 2024 season, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was able to evade a mounting story line from the ’23 season relating to the league’s officiating crisis. After Monday night’s game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills, he no longer has that luxury.
Over the course of 60 minutes in prime time, a bumbling, hyper-sensitive officiating crew hurled 22 flags, many of them in rapid succession from one play to the next. Many of these calls prompted equally horrendous make-up style calls, not to mention what looked to be a botched call on the field that was quickly shut down by booth review, making a desperate coach unable to challenge it (even though that coach was likely prompted to challenge by John Parry, a longtime NFL referee and ESPN’s former in-house rules analyst).
Here’s how you can tell the game was poorly officiated: When the league’s broadcast partners, which are essentially paid a handsome wage to present a product to the masses in its finest light, are unable to excuse what is taking place before their eyes.
Let’s discuss some of the more egregious moments, all of which took place within the final two frantic quarters of an absolutely critical AFC East divisional matchup with first place on the line:
• With 9:32 to go in the third quarter, Bills defensive end A.J. Epenesa was flagged for the bodyweight rule. On the field, the official called it an “unnecessary second act,” though it was clear that the defensive end was trying to pry the ball out of Aaron Rodgers’s grip and then flipped off his back the second the play was over. The call revived a struggling Jets offense and aided them down the field for points.
• With 4:47 to go in the third quarter, Jets defensive back D.J. Reed was flagged for pass interference on a play in which it appeared Mack Hollins simply rammed himself into the cornerback with what would generously be considered B-movie acting. The chaotic flailing in that moment was borderline comical.
• At the 5:18 mark of the fourth quarter, Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw was flagged for guiding Josh Allen back to the ground in what we could assume was a make-up call for the egregious bodyweight flag on Buffalo. Later in the drive, he was also whacked with a penalty for having an inappropriate conversation with an official.
• At the 3:43 mark, Aaron Rodgers was essentially holding the ball over the shoulder of a Bills defender and it dropped to the turf. On the field, the play was ruled a fumble. It was reversed upon replay assist. Bills coach Sean McDermott seemed to ask if he could challenge anyway. It would be safe to assume he was led to that decision by Parry, who now works for the Bills. Because replay assist was involved, he could not.
• At the 2:52 mark in the fourth quarter, Rodgers skied a ball over the head of Garrett Wilson on third-and-4, with the receiver largely unimpeded as he made a layup-like maneuver in an effort to feign his attempt to catch the ball. Bills defensive back Christian Benford, outside of a useless hand on the back of Wilson’s jersey, did not appear to redirect the wide receiver or alter his route in any way. Benford was flagged for pass interference, anyway, giving New York 10 yards and a new set of downs.
Both of those last two calls were integral to the extension of the Jets’ final drive, which ended with a Rodgers interception anyway.
One, or possibly two of these calls over the course of an NFL game are understandable. I wrote a few years back that this game is becoming increasingly un-officiateable without giving these referees more time, more replay assistance or more tools to combat the impossibility of noticing some of these infractions at warp speed. More than 20 of them, with many occurring down the home stretch of a standalone prime-time game after it had become clear that the crew had lost the rhythm of the game and was close to losing control of the players on the field, was inexcusable.
Rodgers himself said in his postgame interview that both pass interference calls, including the one that ended with a 260-pound human being on top of him, were incorrect.
While it has been repeated again and again, the moment the league became a vehicle for sports betting was the moment these officials were going to get examined blacklight-forensic-lab style on each and every play—and the more they would continue to become a critical part in this conspiratorial narrative about the league’s ability to nudge the outcome of a game.
I do not believe the NFL is in the business of fixing games, and you shouldn’t, either, but the league should be in the business of appearing so incredibly buttoned up, so ridiculously thorough, so completely sure of its own rulebook that the thought can’t work its way into the mainstream and puncture the legitimacy of the product. What we saw Monday was a lack of confidence personified; nerves prompting some strange conservatism and then the need to even it all back out.
Without officiating as a backdrop, Monday night was the league’s dream. Ridiculous, wind-whipped kicks smashing into the uprights. Rodgers tossing a Hail Mary touchdown. The Jets flailing in front of their owner, who was sure that firing Robert Saleh, the well-liked defensive head coach, would spark the offense. It was the perfect combination of pregame narrative and engaging product. The total package. Had the officials stayed out of it, we may have actually remembered the game that way.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bills-Jets ’MNF’ Matchup Marred by Embarrassing Showing From Officials.
