Officiating in the NFL at an all time low

Last night in Green Bay the officials bad calls made the difference in a football game.

The Lions had other things to be frustrated with last night, including themselves.

But the officials made such a convenient target.


The Lions were rightfully angry with a number of calls, specifically the two phantom hands to the face calls on defensive end Trey Flowers which helped the Packers come back for a win.

“I didn’t think hands to the chest was a penalty,” Flowers said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I thought hands to the face, but I had him right here in the chest. The second time I changed it to right here [another spot on the chest]. That’s part of a move that I do and, yeah. So, nah, I don’t think that was a penalty, but they did, so . . .

“They saw something different than what actually happened and they called what they thought they saw. I was doing it all game. I didn’t know that was a flag to the chest, so I could change it to [another spot on the collar]. They called it again.”

Those weren’t the only calls that angered the Lions, as safety Tracy Walker was upset with a personal foul for a helmet-to-helmet hit when he was going for the ball. Officials explained afterward that intent wasn’t a factor, and that the foul would have been called even if Walker picked it off.

“Extremely pissed off right now,” Walker said. “It is what it is. Disappointed. Hurt. We had that game. it’s going – I’m going to say the same s—, we should have won it. It is what it is, though. Got to bounce back. . . .

“I feel like we could have had a better game and we was supposed to come victorious with that game but Green Bay came to play. There was some awful, awful calls, but we got to play through that. We got to overcome those, and so we didn’t, obviously, and we came up short.”

Walker was asked if he was worried about being fined, and he said he did not care.

“Detroit vs. Everybody,” he said. “I’m saying it. Detroit vs. Everybody. It’s awful.”

Of course, that would imply this year’s officiating problems have been unique to Lions games. They have not been, and that creates an issue the league can’t continue to ignore.