Bad officiating, questionable calls abound in Week 2 of NFL play

Bad NFL officiating was on display Sunday, with several suspect calls in Week 2. Inconsistencies were aplenty, particularly in the Cowboys-Chargers and Titans-Seahawks games.

Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert dropped back to pass in the fourth quarter and quickly found himself ambushed by several defenders. He smartly manage to get rid of the ball before being brought to the ground.

However, the referees ruled that he did not have forward progress and was sacked, stunning the Chargers and fans across the league.

This was actually called a sack on Justin Herbert…if this is Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady there’s a 0% chance that is called in this situation pic.twitter.com/6kk3C3ngna

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) September 19, 2021

The Chargers were forced to settle for a field goal on that drive and ultimately lost 20-17. It’s hard not to wonder if they would have scored had the play been ruled differently.

Further adding to the confusion, an extremely similar play caused controversy in the game between Tennessee and Seattle. The egregious missed call would have ended the game.

Russell Wilson dropped back to pass near his own end zone and found himself in trouble. He, too, gets rid of the football but does so while in the end zone. The Titans wanted a safety, but the Seahawks instead kept the ball at their own 1.

You owe us a walkoff safety @NFLOfficiating pic.twitter.com/PbqQ3D1jEO

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) September 19, 2021

Luckily, the Seahawks punted the very next play and Tennessee capitalized on excellent field position to nail the game-winning field goal.

The plays prompted former NFL referee Terry McAulay to tweet that the officials need to get this fixed prior to Week 3.

“I would suggest the NFL Referees meet this week and have a serious discussion about when the play should be killed when a QB is held such that his forward progress is stopped and when it shouldn’t,” McAulay said.

The missed safety wasn’t the only controversial call in the Seattle-Tennessee game either.

Titans receiver Julio Jones appeared to have scored his first career touchdown in a Titans uniform, executing a perfect, toe-tap touchdown in the back of the end zone, but the ruling on the field was later overturned, as the referees concluded that Jones was out of bounds.

CBS Sports rules analyst Gene Steratore weighed in on this call with a tweet of his own, actually agreeing with the officials.

“Since Julio Jones’ heel is coming down and fully lands on the ground, his entire foot must be in-bounds for the catch to count,” Steratore tweeted. “If a WR ‘toe-taps’ (ie – the Santonio Holmes catch in the Super Bowl), it counts as in-bounds. Replay concluded that Jones’ heel landed out of bounds.”

It’s clear that something has to change soon. Hopefully the NFL can take care of some of the bad officiating and missed calls with an extra week to prepare.