Once Again Refs Cheating in Nfl Games

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) — Nosotros all wanted to tune in to the Super Bowl to watch a dandy game. Some funny commercials, a nostalgia-inspired halftime show, and some delectable food to complete the evening. Instead, we were treated to The Ref Evidence.

Lucky usa.

With the obvious caveat that officiating football games at the NFL level is difficult, you can't assistance but come away from the Rams' 23-20 Super Basin win over the Bengals feeling a trivial bit cheated. The officiating crew made some massive gaffes that just influenced the game besides much.

That came in multiple forms. Outset, we saw information technology in the form of a missed call, like the obvious offensive pass interference and/or facemask penalty committed by Tee Higgins on his 75-grand touchdown reception to start the second half.

Tee Higgins definitely got abroad with i. Grabbed Ramsey's facemask. pic.twitter.com/yg4yFxd9VY

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February xiv, 2022

In the involvement of fairness, the grab of the facemask happened a lot quicker than information technology looked on replay. And the side judge chasing the play up the sidelines didn't take a clear line of vision to the front of Higgins' and Jalen Ramsey's bodies. The call would've had to come from the back judge, who was in the center of the field and likely didn't encounter the quick wink of the penalty from his vantage betoken.

Notwithstanding, it was a huge missed call, one where everyone in Americaexceptthe officials on the field knew that a penalty had been committed.

Perhaps worse, referee Ron Torbert refused to even acknowledge that fact later the game.

"The crew did not see whatsoever contact that warranted laissez passer interference. Information technology was a contested catch, and the crew didn't see whatever contact that rose to the level of pass interference," Torbert said after the game. "Our rule is that if there is a grab and twist and turn, there's enough for a foul. If there's just a rake beyond the facemask, where there'due south not a twist and plow, even if at that place's a grab, there is no foul. The officials did non see any contact that rose to the level of a foul for a 15-yard facemask."

That is, quite only, an untrue statement from Torbert.

Nevertheless.

The lack of phone call on Higgins mostly fit in with the theme of the officiating for the night, which is to say the officials by and large simply threw punishment flags when they absolutely had to.

A full of 3 penalties were chosen in the offset half: a faux outset, a delay of game, and an unsportsmanlike carry for a fella from the Bengals sideline running onto the field in celebration later an interception. No judgment calls, no belongings fouls, no pass interference penalties. The coiffure was simply calling what was required.

No penalties were chosen in the third quarter. In the starting time 13 minutes of the 4th quarter, just one punishment was called, and it was a textbook post-whistle shove for unnecessary roughness against the Bengals.

That is how the game was being played. Some property was going on downfield, some jerseys were tugged, some hand fighting and contact was happening, and the officials all let it go. That was the standard for how this game was allowed to be played.

That was … correct up until the game'southward well-nigh critical moment. Information technology was at that point, within the two-minute alert, with the Rams trailing by 4 points, that the officials on the field decided that minor contact downwardly the field from Logan Wilson constituted defensive holding. It changed the game.

this is holding? picture.twitter.com/J3qhpvQ4Jl

— alex (@highlghtheaven) February 14, 2022

Defenders are allowed to take their hands on a receiver. If Wilson did commit a foul here — and it's debatable if he did — then he did it with a slight twist of Cooper Kupp'due south hips but before the brawl arrived. If that was the foul that drew the flag, and so information technology should have been a pass interference penalization, equally the brawl was already in flying. Instead, the call was for defensive property, thus leading the viewing public to wonder what in the world the official had seen.

Every bit former head of NFL officiating Mike Pereira frankly stated after the game, "It's just non holding."

"I mean, I get it, he is in contact with him, but y'all look to try to see if there's a jersey grab, if there'southward an extension of the jersey, something more than that," Pereira said. "They'll talk almost the ii plays, and two wrongs don't brand a correct. And it's a myth. Brand-up calls are a myth. But in fact when y'all expect at those two plays — one Cincinnati's manner, one the Rams' way — it's a shame that we do have to talk about that. But that'southward the nature of officiating. You hardly ever become unscathed."

Going unscathed in this example would have merely required the crew to do what it had done all night by assuasive the players to play the game. In this item instance, it would have required that the back judge — the same back judge who didn't see the Higgins facemask — to non invent a foul that hadn't really been committed.

Then, instead of a fourth-and-goal for the Rams at the 8-yard line afterwards a dandy play by Logan Wilson, the Rams had a first-and-goal from the iv-grand line. They'd score the game-winning touchdown shortly thereafter.

Information technology didn't assistance matters that the officials missed four Los Angeles Rams offensive linemen starting the play early on that exact same snap.

Missing this obvious false starting time ON THE ENTIRE OFFENSIVE LINE only to call a bad defensive belongings penalisation ON THE Aforementioned PLAY is the perfect capstone to the worst flavor of NFL officiating EVER. https://t.co/OyPaAy6O54

— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) Feb 14, 2022

Later on that, a less-discussed but very significant miss by the officials (and the replay official) might have cost the Bengals a offset down. Trailing by 3, facing a third-and-ane at the Rams' 49-one thousand line, Samaje Perine took an within handoff and made came awfully shut to gaining the yard.

The yellow line, obviously, is non official, but Perine conspicuously gets the ball to the "L" on the NFL shield logo at midfield:

Samaje Perine's 4th quarter run (Screen shot from NFL.com/GamePass)

The ball, though, was sported well brusque of the "L":

The Bengals' fourth-down spot (Screen shot from NFL.com/GamePass)

At the very least, a booth review might have been warranted to double-check the spot on the field.

Alas, the review didn't come, the Bengals failed on fourth down, and the Rams won their Super Basin.

Often, emotionally charged conversations about bad officiating get misconstrued. A highlight on Twitter of, say, the missed false start on the biggest play of the game, will bring about vi,000 replies pointing out the missed facemask, as if to say both teams got a raw bargain from the officials.

But … aye. Yeah. That is almost exactly the indicate. Officiating in the Super Bowl need not be perfect, but when it comes to missing egregious fouls on game-changing plays like the Higgins facemask on Ramsey, and when it comes to inventing defensive belongings penalties in the final minutes of a game when nothing of the sort had been called all game? They should be ameliorate than that. We'd all like them to exist better than that. Alas, we go what we get, so we get upset, and and so … naught changes. That's the mode things tend to get with the NFL.

I wish information technology were not so.

You can e-mail Michael Hurley or detect him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

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Source: https://boston.cbslocal.com/2022/02/14/bad-officiating-ruined-the-super-bowl-rams-bengals/

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