Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Lions latest victims of NFL’s flag problem
Another frustrating weekend of flag-filled football culminated with the Packers’ 23-22 last-second win over the Lions on Monday night thanks to two hands-to-the-face calls on Detroit defensive end Trey Flowers.
The first one came with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter and Detroit comfortably ahead 22-13. The flag negated a sack of Aaron Rodgers that might have sealed Green Bay’s fifth straight loss to the Lions and instead led to Allen Lazard’s 35-yard TD catch that made it 22-20.
The second one came on a third-down incompletion by Rodgers that would have forced the Packers to kick a field goal with about 90 seconds left, plenty of time for Detroit to respond with its own field-goal drive. Instead, the Packers ran the clock down to 2 seconds before Mason Crosby kicked the game-winning 23-yarder as time expired, then did his very first Lambeau Leap.
NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent said the first call was correct, but the second call was not.
“There was one that was clear that we support, and there was another that when you look at and review the play, it’s not something you want to see called,” Vincent said Tuesday at the owners’ meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “The foul wasn’t there.”
Flowers, who had never been whistled for handsto-the-face fouls in his fiveyear NFL career, said he was using the same move all game, putting his hands on left tackle David Bakhtiari’s chest, not his neck or face.
“I didn’t think hands to the chest was a penalty,” Flowers said.
Referee Clete Blakeman said each of the calls was made by umpire Jeff Rice, and he discussed the last one with him.
“Basically, it’s for illegal use of the hands, handsto-the-face foul,” Blakeman told a pool reporter. “To be a foul, we basically need some forceful contact that’s prolonged to the head and neck area of the defender.
“So, in his mind he had pinned him back, it was prolonged, and that’s what created the foul.”
The Lions tried to let the Packers score a touchdown after Flowers’ second flag so Matthew Stafford would have time to drive Detroit downfield, but Jamaal Williams wisely took a seat at the 3 to allow the clock to keep ticking away.
“Monday Night Football” analyst Booger McFarland complained about the first call on Flowers and was even more critical of the second one, saying, “you basically end the game on what I call a bogus handsto-the-face.”
Social media was abuzz over the frivolous flags.
“The referees are destroying the NFL game by game,” tweeted ex-NFL star Matt Forte . “It’s a shame because of how much work is put in and to have games literally won or loss by bad calls in crucial situations.”
Barry Sanders chimed in, tweeting, “That is sickening… the NFL needs to look at a way to prevent that from happening. Two phantom hands to the face calls really hurts us tonight. Yes, we could have scored TDs, but Lions played too well to have the game end this way.”
Instead of leaving Lambeau Field atop the NFC North at 3-1-1, the Lions limped out 2-2-1 in last place while the Packers improved to 5-1.