I just want to preface this article by saying that this was one of the best NFL games I have ever seen. Plain and simple. Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald and Jeff Janis put on an absolute show in the last two minutes of the game. It will most definitely be a game for the ages.
Still, it is pretty clear that the officials of the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals tilt were not at the top of their game on Saturday night. All night, the officials were making inconsistent calls about pass interference and catches for both teams, and it almost greatly impacted the result of the game. Despite making an amazing comeback in one of the greatest playoff games of all time, the Packers ended up losing to the Cardinals, but both teams were hindered by some bad officiating towards the end of the game.
A majority of what impacted the Packers happened in the fourth quarter. The refs missed countless pass interference calls on the night, but one of the most important came when they missed what happened to Jared Abbrederis. On a third and short, Rodgers attempted to throw a pass to him and he was very clearly interfered with by the Cardinals’ defender. The team could not convert the fourth down, and as a result the Cardinals got the ball and scored a field goal to increase their lead to 20-13.
Following that, the Packers needed a miracle to tie the game heading into overtime. Then, the officials struck again. On a third-and-20, Rodgers lofted a pass to Janis who was interfered with by Justin Bethel on the play. Bethel grabbed Janis’ jersey and blatantly turned him prior to the ball arriving. However, the officials let the two teams play through the contact and continued to neglect the interference calls. It was a borderline despicable no-call, and it put the team in a near impossible fourth-and-20 situation.
Still, in spite of the officiating, the Packers were able to complete a miraculous comeback that required two Hail Marys to get a first down and the game-tying touchdown as time expired. However, in overtime another curious thing happened, this one affecting the Cardinals.
On the coin toss, the referee, Clete Blakeman, threw the coin straight up into the air and it did not flip over at all. This prompted the officials to redo the flip, which I found to be an odd decision. Unless they had rigged the coin flip, there was no need to redo it. This re-flip demonstrated either that the referees were not comfortable calling a big game and really did not know exactly what they were doing, or that the NFL has some obscure “coin must flip” rule.
Granted, the calls did not have a major impact on the game, but that is not the point. The point is that the missed calls could have made the game more fair. It is just frustrating that the officials are sometimes put in a situation where they can have a major impact on the game. Like if Rodgers had not completed the fourth-and-20 play, we may have been robbed of a chance to see the great Hail Mary at the end. Then again, that did create a chance for the exciting fourth-and-20 play. It can sort of be a catch-22 at times, but one thing is clear: The players and coaches should decide things, not the referees.
