On a 4th & 1 near the goal line at the end of a 10+ play drive that saw the Lions dominate the line of scrimmage, Detroit quarterback Jared Goff went in motion as a wide receiver and caught a touchdown on a trick play.
At least, that’s what everyone thought.
Well over a minute after the play was over and the Lions had celebrated the touchdown and sat down on the bench, a flag was thrown. The referees ruled that Goff’s play constituted an illegal motion penalty, and the touchdown was taken away.
But from where did this flag come? The referees didn’t throw the flag when they saw the play live. So, what was the source of this penalty? As it turns out, the source of the penalty was none other than the NFL league office.
Referee Craig Wrolstad informed Lions coach Dan Campbell that the league office had directly intervened to have the touchdown nullified.
“We asked [the league] about all of that,” Campbell said when asked about the flag on Detroit sportstalk radio.
When asked whether the flag had been thrown in the direction of the league office, Campbell responded, “Yeah.”
The incredibly late penalty call caused confusion for the Lions. They initially lined up to go for the touchdown again, but were assessed a penalty for delay of game, leading Campbell to choose to kick a field goal.
So, the league’s intervention in this scenario resulted in a four-point swing away from the Lions and to the benefit of the Chiefs.
Now, from all appearances, the league’s call was correct. The issue here is not that the league intervened incorrectly.
The issue is that, in a game where the Chiefs were assessed zero penalties despite multiple examples of where a flag should have been thrown, why didn’t the league intervene in those situations?
Why didn’t the NFL intervene on this obvious taunting violation against Patrick Mahomes after scoring the go-ahead touchdown? I’m sure the Lions would have appreciated 15 extra yards on the ensuing kickoff.
Why didn’t the league intervene on that “catch” by Travis Kelce, where the ball clearly hit the ground? Or, Kelce’s obvious hold on a Lions player? Or, on the Chiefs’ offensive lineman who held up a defender who was trying to tackle Mahomes?
Again, the league has the power and obligation to intervene when games don’t get officiated correctly. However, they need ot make sure they’re not just intervening when it helps the Chiefs.
Breitbart News
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