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Doug Farrar

The NFL’s Worst of Week 6: Bad officiating, punter headbutts, angry Brian Daboll!

NFL Trevor Penning Desmond Ridder Johnny Hekker Cameron Goode Doug Farrar John Hussey Browns (Organization) Titans Jalen Hurts

Football is a wonderful, thrilling, inspiring game that can lift us to new heights in our lives.

But football is also a weird, inexplicable, at times downright stupid game that may force you to perform Keith Moon-level furniture destruction in your own living room.

So, as much as we at Touchdown Wire endeavor to write about what makes the game great, there are also times when it’s important to point out the dumb plays, boneheaded decisions, and officiating errors that make football all too human.

Folks, it’s time for the Worst of the Week for Week 6 of the 2023 NFL season.

John Hussey's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day in Browns-49ers.

(Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)

The matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Cleveland Browns was one of the most compelling in Week 6, but referee John Hussey might not have gotten the memo. Hussey and his crew did NOT have a great game.

You expect missed calls like these at times…

…but when a ref gets the player AND the team wrong on a call, and then has to discuss it with the rest of his crew? That’s no bueno.

The Browns won the game, 19-17, on a Dustin Hopkins 29-yard field goal with 1:40 left in the game. That effort was aided considerably by an unnecessary roughness call on safety Tashaun Gipson with 2:45 left in the game. That came on a Browns third-and-10 from the Cleveland 26-yard line, and the penalty (which really wasn’t) put the ball on the Cleveland 41-yard line with a fresh set of downs.

Based on history, we’re pretty sure that Hussey will be “downgraded” with a playoff assignment when all is said and done.

Two pass interference calls on the Ravens on the Titans' first drive.

(Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)

We’re not sure what was worse in Sunday’s London game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Tennessee Titans — the fact that Baltimore was flagged for two iffy pass interference penalties on the Titans’ first offensive drive, or that the Titans’ land-locked offense couldn’t do much with those advantages.

Coming into that game, referee Bill Vinovich and his crew were in a three-way tie for the most defensive pass interference penalties called this season with eight. And it didn’t take long for Vinovich to separate himself from his peers. On the Titans’ first drive, the Ravens were flagged twice on those calls, and Tennessee’s offense gained 29 extra yards on those two calls.

The penalty called on safety Marcus Williams with 7:16 left in the first quarter was especially “interesting,” and this did not escape the notice of Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and NFL Network rules analyst Gene Steratore.

Even with all that help, the Titans fell short on that opening drive, having to settle for a field goal. Tennessee lost the game, 24-16.

Jalen Hurts' "touchdown run."

(Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)

If it seems like we’re picking on the refs in this week’s “Worst of the Week,” it’s because we are. We now turn to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts’ three-yard touchdown run with 3:04 left in the first quarter. Unlike the Browns-49ers game, this didn’t have a bearing on the final result (the New York Jets won, 20-14), but it was weird nonetheless.

We’ll start with the fact that the Eagles — masters of the Brotherly Shove — called a shotgun run play on fourth-and-goal. Maybe this was supposed to be a pass, or maybe nobody on the Eagles’ staff watched Saturday’s Washington-Oregon game. In any event, the play was originally ruled a Hurts fumble at the one-yard line, recovered by the Jets. It was then reversed to a touchdown.

Which would make sense except for the fact that the play clock had run out, and the ball should have belonged to the Jets after a delay of game penalty.

Scott Novak and his crew get the third booby prize for officiating this week. We do understand that the officials generally take a liberal view of play clock expiration, but when you’re reviewing the play anyway… how do you miss that?

Cameron Goode's flop on Johnny Hekker's head-butt.

(Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

If  you flop on a football field, you’re going to hear about it. And if you flop on a football field after a punter head-butts you? That’s a bit embarrassing. This happened to Miami Dolphins rookie linebacker Cameron Goode, who found himself on the wrong end of Carolina Panthers punter Johnny Hekker. With 9:56 left in Miami’s eventual 42-21 win, Hekker and Goode got into it, and the result was a Hekker headbutt, a Goode (not good) flop, and Hekker drawing the ultra-rare unnecessary roughness penalty for a punter.

.Why can’t we all just get along?

Trevor Penning's "blocking technique."

(Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports)

When the New Orleans Saints selected Northern Iowa offensive tackle Trevor Penning with the 19th overall pick in the 2022 draft, I wasn’t a fan of the move, believing that Penning was far more aggressive than technical, and that his rudimentary mechanics would upend him at the NFL level. Penning has had an up-and-down career in the league, with some good moments, but in the Saints’ 20-13 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday, Penning found himself beaten honestly, and his reaction was… well, less than ideal.

Houston edge-rusher Johnathan Greenard got Penning with a Von Miller long-arm with 2:51 left in the third quarter, and Penning made it quite personal.

Penning was busted for tripping on the play — he’d already caught a holding penalty earlier in the quarter — and that was that.

Desmond Ridder's two-play sequence against the Commanders.

(Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)

Not that we ascribe “wins” to quarterbacks, but coming into the Atlanta Falcons’ Sunday game against the Washington Commanders, Falcons second-year quarterback Desmond Ridder had quite the streak going. Through his collegiate career at Cincinnati, and during his time in the NFL, Ridder’s teams had never lost a home game when he was the starting quarterback. Ridder was 31-0 until Sunday, when the Commanders eked out a 24-16 win.

Washington was helped out a lot by Ridder, who completed 28 of 47 (!!!) passes for 307 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 66.5. The worst sequence in the game for the Falcons started with 5:17 left in the game.

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was all in his feelings here, and who could blame him?

Announcer jinxes!

(Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

At least two times on Sunday, announcers were directly responsible for interceptions.

You may think that’s facetious, but we don’t. We have seen more than enough no-hitters broken up as a result of blabbermouth people in the booth talking about it just to be defiant, and football announcers should know better than to ever say that Team X hasn’t thrown an interception, or Team X doesn’t yet have an interception. Because we ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, DON’T WE?

First, veteran announcer Spero Dedes apparently forgot himself in this regard. Albert was calling Sunday’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Jacksonville Jaguars, and with 4:50 left in the first half, Dedes happened to mention that Minshew hadn’t thrown a pick all season long.

See if you can guess what happened next.

I mean… we’re talking MAYBE five seconds between the installation of the Announcer Curse, and the Inevitable Result. Ouch.

Then, Jim Nantz and Tony Romo were calling the game between the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders, and Nantz happened to mention that the Patriots don’t have an interception yet among the players in uniform on the field. Rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez, out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, was the only Patriots defender with an interception this season.

Of course, that changed right after Nantz said it. Defensive back Jabrill Peppers put a serious hit on receiver Davante Adams, and the ball flew up into the hands of linebacker Jahlani Tavai.

When will these guys learn? Actions have consequences, people.

 

 

The Patriots' alleged offense.

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The New England Patriots came into Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders with twice as many turnovers (10) as touchdowns (five), and the fewest points scored (55) in the NFL. So, it should be expected that the Raiders’ surprisingly scrappy defense limited quarterback Mac Jones to 24 completions on 33 attempts for 200 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 75.3.

Jones’ interception to Raiders safety Trevon Moehrig was particularly egregious…

…but the worst thing that happened to Bill Belichick’s offense came with 1:47 left in the game, when Jones did his usual 12-second progression read, and was sacked by Raiders’ edge-rusher Maxx Crosby for a safety.

As one might expect, Coach Belichick was not thrilled by the result.

The futility also prompted this week’s episode of Sad Julian Edelman.

Whatever the heck the Giants were doing at the end of the first half.

(Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports)

So, the New York Giants have had issues scoring touchdowns in the first half of games this season.

Situational football might be one reason why. Brian Daboll’s offense had first-and-goal with 14 seconds left in the first half of their Sunday night game against the Buffalo Bills after a defensive pass interference penalty on Bills cornerback Kaiir Elam put the ball there. With 14 seconds left, you’d think the Giants would try a few red zone throws. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor apparently had another idea — check to a long-developing handoff to Saquon Barkley, gain no yardage, and run out the clock on your own opportunity.

Blech.

As Taylor came off the field, Daboll went Full Brian Kelly on his quarterback, and it’s hard to blame him. Though we would agree that Taylor should have been told by his coach that there was NO option but to throw the ball.

This really killed the Giants, as they had the ball back on the Buffalo one-yard line for an untimed down at the end of the game, and Taylor was unable to get the ball to tight end Darren Waller to win the game. Instead, the Giants lost, 14-9… and they could have used a field goal at the end of the first half.

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