By: Ryan Smithers
A lot of things are broken in this cruel world. The government, NBA 2K19, my bathroom sink, but nothing. I repeat, NOTHING, is more broken than the NFL.
If you tuned into the NFC championship game last Sunday, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The defining moment in which the National Football League blew up into a million tiny pieces of crap. All decided by who? Zebras.
No, not actual zebras. I’m talking about referees. The constant criticism of referees has been present since the dawn of time, but now they’re just getting out of hand and deserve everything coming their way.
This conversation heated up in the midst of the NFC Championship between the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. There were a few face mask and delay of game penalties that went uncalled and were against the Saints. A Saints player literally jumped on Rams QB Jared Goff’s head at the end of a play. No call.
See? Dude was playing leapfrog.
It wasn’t until crunch time when things really took a turn for the worse, leaving the football world going bezerk. With a tie game and 1:49 left on the clock, the Saints had the ball on the Rams’ 13 yard line. On 3rd & 10, quarterback Drew Brees dropped back to pass and was looking for WR Tommylee Lewis when…
Actually, just watch it.
Honestly, when I saw this live I thought it was a good no-call. Then they showed the replay and I threw up a little bit. First of all, FULL contact was made before the ball was even close to the receiver. Clearly pass interference. Second, it was a helmet to helmet hit that would’ve been a soft call anyway, but that has never stopped the NFL.
The Saints couldn’t seal the deal and ended up kicking a 31-yard field goal to take a three-point lead but couldn’t stop the Rams as they drove right up the field and kicked a field goal as time expired, sending the game into overtime. The Saints failed to score on their opening drive, giving the Rams a shot at the win. Greg Zuerlein nailed the game-winning field goal, sending the Los Angeles Rams to the Super Bowl. Yes, the winner of this game advanced to the Super Bowl. Yes, this was one of the worst officiated games in NFL history. And yes, the refs still got paid for it.
Saints fans, gamblers, and half of the world went CRAZY on social media for days. NFL players called out the league, Twitter refs argued, and videos of fans destroying their TVs and doors filled up every timeline. An attorney even filed a civil lawsuit demanding that the NFL reverses the call and replays the game from that spot. Do I blame them? Not one bit. It’s finally time for the National Football League to evaluate their own dumb rules and referees. As of now, penalties cannot be reviewed and reversed, but now this is the topic of discussion. The league needs to implement a rule that allows the review of a penalty or non-call. This implies that if a penalty is called that wasn’t a penalty at all (or vice versa), the league can review the call and reverse the penalty. This idea could be heavily abused in the league, so they’d have to have some sort of time restriction or something. But it is possible.
There’s honestly nothing to be done about it now. The league refuses to address the situation that happened last Sunday and has their sights on screwing up the Super Bowl. Cheers to the broken NFL! No Fun League. No Flag League.
The Heritage Herald 