Every week, it seems like we have more officiating controversies to talk about. But during week 18 of the 2022 season, it appears as though the NFL hit its tipping point.
According to sources at ESPN, numerous executives and coaches around the league have seen enough of the league’s questionable, inconsistent officiating following last week’s crucial game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams.
The Seahawks needed to win that game in order to keep their playoff hopes alive (and eliminate the Detroit Lions’ playoff hopes in the process), and they got the win thanks to some brutal officiating errors.
According to ESPN, the officials in that game missed “multiple calls,” and one member of the league’s competition committee even called it “the worst officiated game of the year.”
Via ESPN:
Another team executive not associated with either the Rams or Lions told ESPN there is “a real groundswell of unhappiness with officiating that is much deeper than I’ve seen and frankly, I haven’t seen in this league in years.”
Multiple sources told ESPN that the Rams were upset by the officiating, the Lions were bothered by it and the competition committee was frustrated by it. The calls benefited the Seahawks, hurt the Rams and ultimately impacted the Lions, who needed Seattle to lose in order to have a chance to claim the NFC’s final wild-card spot.
The questionable calls began with a “running into the kicker” penalty on the Rams in the fourth quarter that shouldn’t have been called, as LA’s Jonah Williams was clearly pushed into the Seahawks punter. The penalty kept the Seahawks’ drive alive, allowing them to kick a game-tying field-goal.
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Later on, during the final moments of the fourth quarter, Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey was flagged for hitting Geno Smith with what appeared to be a clean hit. And to make matters worse, after the play Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf stuck his finger in Ramsey’s helmet in retaliation, right in front of an official. But no flag was thrown.
Then, at the beginning of overtime, there was an obvious intentional grounding penalty that should have been called against Seattle, but the refs decided that Noah Fant was in the vicinity of Smith’s pass, despite the Seahawks tight end being over 10 yards away from where the ball landed.
And finally, during the Quandre Diggs interception off Baker Mayfield that led to Seattle’s game-winning field-goal, the Seahawks corner was clearly seen taunting Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner during the return… But again, no flag was thrown and Seattle was set up with great field position to win the game.
All of these calls seemed to go in favor of the Seahawks, who won the game and eventually booked their ticket to the postseason—thanks to the Lions’ victory over the Packers on Sunday night.
No team got screwed more than the Lions as a result of all this. Hopefully it’ll be enough to convince the league to make some changes this offseason. Based on rumblings around the league, no one wants to see this happen again.
