You’re probably as sick of hearing about bad officiating as we are sick of writing about it. Today, there was already the phantom touchdown pass from Derek Carr to Keelan Cole… and then, on Sunday night, there was the way the game between the New York Giants and the Washington Commanders ended.
With 56 seconds left, the Commanders had fourth-and-goal from the New York six-yard line. After a scramble, quarterback Taylor Heinicke threw incomplete to receiver Curtis Samuel. The reason the pass was incomplete is that Giants cornerback Darnay Holmes was draped all over Samuel throughout the play. But there was no flag from referee John Hussey and his crew.
“Pass interference is a judgment call,” Hussey told pool reporter Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “To the officials, it didn’t rise to what they felt was a restriction, thus they didn’t call it. That’s basically the bottom line there. It’s a judgment call and they didn’t believe it was pass interference.”
Fascinating that Hussey mentioned “the officials” as if he wasn’t one of them, but whatever.
4th down, game on the line, and the refs call absolutely nothing here on Darnay Holmes all over Curtis Samuel #NYGvsWAS pic.twitter.com/jTa2W7sE86
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) December 19, 2022
After two kneeldowns by Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, the game was over, and the Giants won, 20-12.
“It’s clearly a foul,” NBC rules analyst and former NFL official Terry McAulay said right after the game. “Grabs his arm, plays through the back, it’s clearly before the ball gets there. This is defensive pass interference, and it really should be called whether it’s the end of the game, beginning of the game, doesn’t matter. It’s always a foul. It should have been called… if it’s a foul in the first minute of the game, it’s a foul in the last minute of the game. When it’s that obvious, it has to be called.”
McAulay then dove into the touchdown scored by Washington running back Brian Robinson with 1:03 left in the game, that was negated by an illegal formation penalty on receiver Terry McLaurin. McAulay said that he wouldn’t have called that one. It looked as if McLaurin checked with line judge Carl Johnson to make sure he was on the line of scrimmage, to no avail.
he doesn’t tell him to move up does he? he just starts reaching for the flag. Am I losing my mind lol pic.twitter.com/UGeIK7NdWK
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) December 19, 2022
“That’s just too technical,” McAulay said. “We watch the wide receivers… they’re in the vicinity… technically, he’s off the line, but it’s just too technical. Especially without warning, it shouldn’t have been called.”
Hussey saw it differently… or, to be more specific, he didn’t see it at all.
“Well, I didn’t see any of that, because I’m in the backfield,” Hussey said.. “What I was told and what has been confirmed is that the ball was snapped at the half-yard line, and he was lined up a yard back at the one-and-a-half-yard line. In order to be deemed legal he needs to break the belt line, the waist of the center, and he was not breaking the waistline of the center. That’s why the penalty was called, because he was not in a legal formation.”
When asked whether Johnson was obligated to tell McLaurin whether he was at the line of scrimmage or not, Hussey said this:
“Not typically, and the official could be doing other things, like counting the offense – there’s a multitude of different duties. So, I can’t confirm whether the official even saw that or not, but he was clearly off the line of scrimmage.”
Taylor Heinicke is miffed at the penalty called against Terry McLaurin. “He gives the thumbs-up to Terry, what the f— is that?” he just said to himself at his locker.
Terry confirms that the ref OK’d his alignment before the snap. “I pride myself on paying attention to details”
— Pete Hailey (@PeteHaileyNBCS) December 19, 2022
Listen to Terry McLaurin explain that he heard the official tell him he was good, then the official threw a flagged for illegal formation. @wusa9 #HTTC pic.twitter.com/Rsvl6Cmcrh
— Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) December 19, 2022
Washington head coach Ron Rivera wasn’t happy about that call at all, as you might expect.
Ron Rivera on the Giants loss – “It pisses me off” pic.twitter.com/EvycJ5dZgB
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) December 19, 2022
Rivera was then asked about the no-call on Holmes, and the veteran coach knew that anything he said about it could and would be used against him when it came time to levy fines.
#Commanders HC Ron Rivera asked about the officiating tonight “Don’t ask me about the refereeing because I can't answer the question."pic.twitter.com/gvc9GXmgHN
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 19, 2022
Especially late in the season, when so many games are so close, and these missed calls can affect games to such a degree, it behooves the officials to get things right as often as possible. It seems that we’ve been saying that more this season than in recent years.
