NFL says one call in Lions game wrong
Another frustrating weekend of flag-filled football culminated with the Packers’ 23-22 lastsecond win over the Lions on Monday night thanks to two phantom 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 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. Instead, the Packers ran the clock down to two seconds before Mason Crosby kicked the game-winning 23-yarder as time expired.
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 Teammates help Mason Crosby do the Lambeau Leap after he kicked a 23-yard field on the final play to lift the Packers to a 23-22 win over the Lions on Monday night.
never been whistled for hands-to-the-face fouls in his five-year 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.
The Los Angeles Rams acquired cornerback Jalen Ramsey from the Jacksonville Jaguars for first-round picks in 2020 and 2021 and a fourth-round pick in 2021.
Ramsey is one of the NFL’S elite defensive backs, earning two Pro Bowl selections and one first-team All-pro nod in three seasons with Jaguars.
Ramsey has missed the Jaguars’ last three games with an apparent back injury, but
he returned to practice last week. He’ll probably need to play immediately with the Rams (3-3), who are without both of their usual starting cornerbacks as they head to Atlanta this weekend.
Los Angeles traded cornerback Marcus Peters to Baltimore earlier in the day, getting depth linebacker Kenny Young for a two-time Pro Bowl selection who will be a free agent next year. Los Angeles also put cornerback Aqib Talib on injured reserve Monday with a rib injury.
The Browns traded disappointing offensive lineman Austin Corbett to the Rams
for a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft. Corbett was the No. 33 overall selection in the 2018 draft, when he was viewed as a potential longterm answer at left tackle. The 6-foot-3, 306-pounder played in 11 games, making one start as a rookie. He appeared in three games this season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers placed defensive end Stephon Tuitt on injured reserve after he tore a pectoral muscle in Sunday’s 24-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers. The six-year veteran was in the midst of his best season, racking up three sacks and six tackles for loss in just over five games.