As much as fans like to blame teams for benefitting from bad calls or bad no calls, we should really be blaming the NFL for not tightening up the officiating. One thing fans of most teams can agree on is…it’s inconsistent at best and appalling at worst.

After this week’s games, let me take you through some of the worst officiating that came across my radar.

In the Jaguars versus Texans game, an apparent missed holding call in the 3rd quarter on Texans’ Jalen Pitre (holding Evan Ingram) which resulted in an interception and ultimately a touchdown for the Texans.

In the 4th quarter there was a holding call on Texans’ Steven Nelson for holding Calvin Ridley in what many thought was a soft call – at best. Unfortunately for the Texans, a missed field goal that bounced off the uprights ultimately ended their comeback in regulation time.

The Bills versus Eagles game had some fine examples as well. The most egregious, perhaps, was the 2nd quarter horse collar tackle on the Bills QB Josh Allen by Eagles’ edge rusher Haason Reddick. Even though it ended with Allen’s jersey ripped, there was no penalty called. To make matters worse …they instead called intentional grounding on Josh Allen instead.

A pretty blatant horse-collar penalty missed here.

Josh Allen's jersey is ripped…pic.twitter.com/1W6wZJsBwb

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 26, 2023

There was another questionable play later in the game where the Eagles’ corner Darius Slay had the arm or arms of Bill’s receiver Trent Sherfield and appeared to be hanging off him as he tried to catch the ball.

"From the view and the angle of the official, we just didn't feel that it significantly hindered the receiver's ability to catch the ball." So his arm pinning Sherfield’s arm and making him try to 1 hand it isn’t hindering? pic.twitter.com/AdyOUvSlNY

— Ned Hunt (@itsnedhunt16) November 27, 2023

Finally we have the Chargers versus Ravens game. The referees not only didn’t call a penalty on the Raven’ Roquan Smith for the late hit on Charger Justin Herbert, after he was well out of bounds. They gave the Chargers a 15 yard penalty for unnecessary roughness instead.

Justin Herbert was hit VERY late 😳 pic.twitter.com/9wdkuGCwhn

— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) November 27, 2023

The next play they failed to call intentional grounding on Herbert when he threw the ball down short of the line of scrimmage and then forgot to change the down marker.

I’m sure there were others I didn’t know about – but shouldn’t that be enough examples to see a problem? These type of calls/non calls are not anomalies this season. They are all too common. Almost every game I watch has two or more. It’s shameful and with betting on games being legalized and money on the line, the NFL should really try to clean up the officiating.

Written by: Shannon Allen

Photo and Video Credits:

profootballnetwork.com
orlandosentinel.com
sportingnews.com
Ari Meirov Via Twitter
Ned Hunt via Twitter
ocregister.com
NFL Retweet via Twitter