The 2023-24 NFL postseason had it all: Feel-good underdog stories, compelling finishes, epic quarterback duels…an all-time Super Bowl finish and…unfortunately, plenty of horrific officiating that largely determined the outcomes of the games.
Unfortunately, none of this is surprising. We just all knew officiating would be an issue going into the postseason — and that very problem persisted from Wild Card Weekend all the way to Super Bowl 58.
So with that, let’s do our part in holding the zebras accountable by diving into the 15 worst officiating calls of the 2023-24 NFL postseason.
Holding Puka Nacua = Perfectly Legal
The Los Angeles Rams-Detroit Lions Super Wild Card Weekend Game more than lived up to expectations. Not only was it Detroit’s first home playoff game in 30 years, but it also marked Matthew Stafford’s first trip to Motor City as a visitor.
Stafford and Jared Goff traded blow-for-blow in an epic high-scoring affair, but of course the thriller in Motown had to be overshadowed by an inexcusable officiating mistake.
The Rams were trailing by one point with just over four minutes to go. Facing 3rd-and-14, Stafford threw a deep ball to rookie superstar Puka Nacua that fell incomplete.
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A closer look at the replay, however, shows that Cameron Sutton of the Lions got away with an obvious hold on Nacua while he was trying to catch the ball. Yet somehow, officials completely missed it:
Instead of getting a fresh set of downs and moving into field goal range for the game-winning score, the Rams had to punt. Detroit melted the clock and secured their first playoff win in 32 years.
The Lions are no strangers to getting screwed by terrible officiating, especially here in the 21st century. So we suppose they were due to be on the right side of an awful call for once…
Defensive PI On George Pickens? No Problem!
According to the NFL officials, the best way to stop Pittsburgh Steelers star wide receiver George Pickens is to simply commit pass interference and just expect the officials to not call it.
I mean, that’s how Buffalo Bills cornerback Dane Jackson managed to prevent big play Pickens from beating him here with the game on the line during Super Wild Card Weekend.
Pittsburgh was trailing by 14 points with less than five minutes to go, needing 4th-and-3 conversion to keep their season alive.
Mason Rudolph went to his top target on the play, but Jackson’s blatant defensive pass interference infraction on Pickens prevented him from making the catch.
The horrible non-call resulted in a turnover on downs, and the Bills added a late field goal to increase their lead to three scores.
Even if they threw the flag there on Jackson, Pittsburgh still probably wasn’t coming back to win. Still, we ask how hard it is for officials to find any consistency. How do you miss a clear-as-day foul like that in the fourth quarter of a playoff game?
No wonder Pickens was understandably pissed off afterwards…
“Roughing The Passer” Against Christian Wilkins
Today’s NFL rules largely benefit the offense — the quarterback especially. It’s hard enough stopping guys like Patrick Mahomes when the defense can be penalized at any given moment for playing, well, clean defense.
But it’s a darn shame that Miami Dolphins star Christian Wilkins forgot one of the main rules about defense during the team’s Wild Card Weekend game against the Kansas City Chiefs: No contact on Mahomes allowed at all.
Zero. Nada. Oh, and it was perfectly legal for Trey Smith to “hold” Justin Houston on the same play just as he was about to get home for a sack:
Like, what are we even doing here?
Helmet-To-Helmet Hit On Matthew Stafford Is Totally Clean?
Most of us can agree that the NFL officials do a horrible job of executing the “roughing the passer” rule. They always seem to throw flags on clean QB hits, yet oftentimes miss the most obvious violations of the rule.
Regarding the latter, take the case of the Rams-Lions Wild Card Round playoff game. Matthew Stafford was drilled in the head — very late, too — right after he released the football from his arm.
And in typical NFL referee fashion, the penalty went uncalled…
So instead of a fresh set of downs in the red zone, the Rams had to settle on a field goal. And they wound up losing by just a single point — so go figure.
Sorry, Rams. Your season just had to end thanks largely to two pathetic missed calls by the officials in this game…
Neutral Zone Infraction = False Start
Well, the Rams may have gotten screwed by terrible officiating in the wild card game against the Lions.
But we’re not going to let the zebras off the hook for this gross blown call that actually benefited the Rams. Somehow, Taylor Decker was called for a false start when the Rams’ d-line clearly moved first.
Man, between that phantom false start penalty and the whole “ineligible man downfield” fiasco in Dallas, Decker vs. the refs was quite the unexpected NFL rivalry in 2023!!!
K.J. Britt’s Facemask On Jalen Hurts
The Philadelphia Eagles “Tush Push” play has been borderline unstoppable ever since Nick Sirianni decided to start using it with superstar quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Not to be captain obvious again, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed everyone that the most effective way to stop the tush push is to commit a “facemask” penalty on Hurts. I mean, it worked for KJ Britt in the Bucs-Eagles Super Wild Card Weekend Game…
Of course, using the facemask to stop the tush push is only effective if the officials don’t catch you. Fortunately for Britt and the Bucs, the play went undetected BY the officials.
Not by the league office, however. Though he wasn’t penalized on the play, Britt was hit with a $5,592 fine for “unnecessary roughness.”
Too bad the refs missed it in real time…
…But THIS IS “Pass Interference”
As you’ll be reminded aplenty on this list, Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs were largely bailed out by the terrible officiating throughout the NFL postseason en route to a second straight Super Bowl championship.
As we’ve brought up on this list, the issue with judgment calls like defensive PI is the lack of consistency. That very issue reared its ugly head again in the fourth quarter of the Bills-Chiefs Divisional Round showdown at Highmark Stadium.
Just when it looked like the Bills had forced a Kansas City punt, the refs threw a late flag on Dorian Williams of the Bills for defensive PI on Rashee Rice.
Former NFL ref and CBS Rules analyst Gene Steratore perfectly explained the problem with the call here: There isn’t PI there because the ball was NOT IN THE AIR when Williams made contact with Rice.
The Bills would still force a punt on that very drive anyway, but KC still got to bleed precious time on the clock that Buffalo could have used late in the game.
Seriously, someone tell us how that Dane Jackson play on George Pickens wasn’t PI…but how this call against Williams on Rice was? Because the NFL never gave us a clear explanation as usual.
Devin Singletary’s First Down Is “2 Yards Short”
Stop us if we’re wrong here, but our firm belief is that when a player crosses the first-down marker before his knee, elbow or butt hit the ground, it’s a first down.
So we’d like somebody to explain to us here how Devin Singletary was ruled nearly two yards short of the first down when he clearly reached the line of gain.
Pay attention closely and notice that Singletary is on top of the Ravens’ defender as he inches close towards the first down.
So instead of a first down, it was a 3rd-and-1 situation for the Texans. Singletary was stopped on the play, and Houston had to punt.
One can fault Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans for not challenging the spot, but one can also expect the ref to not place the ball two yards short of the actual spot…so yeah.
Baker Mayfield: Down But Not “Down”
For those who aren’t quite familiar with the rule book, if a quarterback’s leg hits the ground before he gets the ball out, he’s down by contact. Hence it should be a sack.
But the refs missed this obvious “down by contact” play on Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield during the Buccaneers-Lions Divisional Round showdown. And the miscue came at a brutal time — a one-score game late in the third quarter.
As you can see on this play, Mayfield was clearly down before he got the ball out of his hand…yet the referees deemed it an incomplete pass.
Mind you, the officials also could have called an intentional grounding foul there – but they gave Mayfield the benefit of the doubt there as well. On the next play, Mayfield found Rachaad White for a touchdown. The Lions wound up winning the game anyway, so the refs avoided further scrutiny here. Just as Dan Campbell avoided further backlash for curiously not challenging that play
Head Hunting Season: Legal In The NFC Championship Game
As we said on the no-call on Matthew Stafford in the Rams-Lions game: A helmet-to-helmet hit on the quarterback — when he’s defenseless no less — is a textbook roughing the passer penalty that should never be up for debate.
So quite frankly, it’s beyond us how the officials missed this cheap — and awfully late — headshot on 49ers’ quarterback Brock Purdy during the NFC Championship Game. I mean, how long until after a play do the refs need to decide it’s a late and unnecessary hit?
Tackling A Receiver? Totally Fine!
The Ravens were trailing the Chiefs 17-7 in the AFC Championship Game lte in the fourth quarter.
Baltimore needed two scores one way or another, but when you have an all-time great kicker like Justin Tucker? Yeah, there’s a big difference between trailing by a field goal and by a touchdown late in the game.
Facing a 3rd-and-5 in KC territory with less than three minutes left, Lamar Jackson had to throw the ball away with the pressure getting to him. As the ball was in the air, however, tight end Isaiah Likely was tackled right to the ground and thus should have drawn a penalty.
Pass interference. Illegal contact. Defensive holding. You name it. That had to be a penalty one way or another, but the refs took the “let them play” crap a little too far there.
Baltimore had to settle for a field goal and never saw the ball again, as the Chiefs melted the clock to secure the AFC Championship.
Receiver In The Area = Intentional Grounding???
According to the official NFL rulebook, it is NOT intentional grounding if a pass attempt “lands in the vicinity of an originally eligible receiver.”
So do feel free to tell us if we’re wrong in questioning how in the world the officials threw a flag on Patrick Mahomes for “intentional grounding” here when Noah Gray was clearly in the area on the throwaway attempt.
Super Blunder: (In)Eligible Man Downfield
Make no mistake, Jauan Jennings’ touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey on a trick play in Super Bowl 58 was a total thing of beauty. It also should have been a penalty, as CBS’ Boomer Esiason cleverly noted during the broadcast.
Pay close attention to Jake Brendel — No. 64 of the 49ers — who clearly should have been flagged as an ineligible man downfield during the McCaffrey run.
Sadly, it wouldn’t be the last inexcusable mistake by the zebras in the big game…
Nick Bosa Warned You…
Ahead of Super Bowl 58, San Francisco 49ers star defensive end Nick Bosa made headlines when he told reporters that the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive linemen “hold a lot.”
Perhaps Bosa was hoping to tip off the officials so that they wouldn’t miss such blatant calls in the Super Bowl. Lo and behold, Bosa was correct about the Chiefs holding a lot during the big game.
The problem was, the officials kept missing clear-as-day holds against the Chiefs’ linemen — especially against Bosa on this very play.
Well, KC just laid out the blueprint for blocking top-flight pass-rushers like Bosa: Just put him in a chokehold and assume the refs won’t notice!!
Nick Bosa Warned You: Part II
Ugh. Nothing worse than an obvious non-call on the game-winning drive in overtime of the Super Bowl. But alas, that’s exactly what happened.
It didn’t get a whole lot of publicity, but Jerick McKinnon got away with a clear hold on 49ers linebacker Fred Warner during the Chiefs’ game-winning drive.
Look at how he prevents Warner from getting to Mahomes during this pivotal 3rd-and-6 completion to Rashee Rice.
A few plays later, Mahomes threw the game-winning touchdown to Mecole Hardman. Because nothing like a fresh set of downs instead of a 3rd-and-long against an elite 49ers defense with the Super Bowl on the line, right?
What do you think was the worst officiating call of the 2023-24 NFL postseason?
