Yellow flags, red flags, black eyes for NFL’s 100th season
The NFL’s 100th season has not been worth celebrating even if the history of the league is.
Several teams are tanking, penalties are wrecking the flow of games, some of the biggest stars have been sidelined, the new pass interference rule appears to have been adapted only to quiet the uproar that started after last season’s NFC championship game and even though ratings are up, it all looks like one big mess on TV.
The NFL opted to go for a history-tinged Packers-Bears opener this year and what it got was a throwback to, well the 1920s, with a knock-down, dragged-out defensive clash that Green Bay won 10-3 in a rivalry rumpus that featured 20 penalties.
That foreshadowed a sea of yellow flags that would give the NFL another black eye following the Antonio Brown head-to-toe, coast-to-coast saga and threatened to hijack the league’s centennial celebration.
Although flags continue to fly, six-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady’s indignation helped whittle the whistles.
The NFL made backside offensive holding a point of emphasis this season, asking officials to flag what’s known as a “lobster block” where O-linemen wrap their arms around a defender when blocking on the backside of running plays.
The officials went overboard, however, throwing flags for holding all over the field, calling 178 offensive holding penalties through the first two weekends and 10 more in the Titans-Jaguars Thursday night game that kicked off Week 3, prompting Brady to tweet, “Too many penalties. Just let us play!!!”
By halftime, Brady was as disgusted as any fan.
“I’m turning off this game I can’t watch these ridiculous penalties anymore,” he tweeted.
Analyst Troy Aikman noted Brady’s tweets on the game broadcast, saying, “Tom Brady is one of the least controversial people we have in our game. He is league royalty. When he makes a statement like that, that should get somebody’s attention.”
It sure did.
Al Riveron, the league’s senior vice president of officiating, held a conference call with referees that Saturday, instructing crews to allow O-linemen more time to get their hands inside the frame of defenders on front-side and other blocks, and the penalties began to plummet.