Why NFL Refs Are Losing Credibility
The Lead
Wondery
3.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 October 2019
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On Monday night, the Lions lost to the Packers after a series of dubious calls by the referees. Fans were outraged. Commentator Booger McFarland went berserk. Even Barry Sanders, the soft-spoken former Lions star, voiced his frustration on Twitter. NFL writer Lindsay Jones joins us to explain what happened in the game, how and why the quality of refereeing in the league appears to be declining, and what can be done about it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Well, there's no delicate way to put this. |
| 0:09.8 | On Monday night football this week, the Detroit Lions got totally screwed by two bad calls. |
| 0:24.6 | And Anders, your fellow Michiganders have not taken this lying down. |
| 0:28.5 | Apparently fans in Detroit have already bought billboards with refs in cheeseheads. |
| 0:34.2 | Yeah, I mean, Lions fans have pretty low expectations at this point, but you know, still |
| 0:38.4 | get riled up at a bad call. |
| 0:40.2 | Fair. |
| 0:41.2 | But beyond that, there's a growing feeling within the NFL now that this is a pattern. |
| 0:46.8 | Week in and week out, refs are missing really important calls. |
| 0:50.8 | They're missing calls. |
| 0:51.8 | They're making up calls that don't exist. |
| 0:53.8 | They're calling people for hands of the face when there are no hands to the face. |
| 0:56.6 | And that first hands. |
| 0:57.8 | And once again, the NFL had to come out with its tail between its legs and admit they |
| 1:01.8 | got the call wrong. |
| 1:03.6 | So today, we're going to speak with the Athletics Lindsey Jones about what is up with the refs |
| 1:09.0 | in the NFL? |
| 1:10.0 | Why are they missing so many calls? |
| 1:12.2 | And what if anything can be done about it? |
| 1:17.4 | From Monday and the Athletic, I'm Anders Keltow. |
| 1:20.4 | And I'm Kavita Davidson. |
| 1:21.4 | It's Thursday, October 17th, and this is The Lead. |
... |
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