The Great Game Robbery

Take a number, New Orleans.

Saints fans were rightly angry after a no-call on clear pass interference changed the outcome of last January's NFC championship game in favor of the Los Angeles Rams. But truth be told, N'Awlins, you've got nothing on the Detroit Lions.

The Lions have also had a no-call on defensive interference that cost them a playoff game, against Dallas in 2015. (In the Lions' case, the refs actually threw a flag on the play and signaled pass interference before picking it up without explanation.) They've also had a call go against them that was so egregious, it not only nullified a game-winning touchdown catch costing them a win in Chicago. It led to the NFL redefining what a catch actually is, something now referred to as the Calvin Johnson Rule. Being jobbed by NFL referees is such a common occurrence in Detroit that it's acceptable to refer to it simply as being "Lioned". But what happened this past Monday night in Green Bay transcended mere bad officiating. For football fans everywhere, it bordered on criminal behavior.

Yes, the Lions kicked five field goals in their 23-22 defeat, three of which were drives that stalled inside the red zone (twice inside the Packer 10). So reaching the end zone on any of those may have made the outcome beyond reach of even the most corrupt of officiating crews. Yes, they turned a Green Bay field goal into a touchdown by having 12 men on the field during Mason Crosby's 30-yard attempt halfway through the second quarter, giving the Packers a first down and new life. But that drive would have ended long before that, were it not for the first in a string of horrific penalties against the Honolulu blue and silver. Each on its own could be dismissed as an instance of the referees just getting one wrong. Collectively, however, they suggest something darker, deeper and more sinister within the league.

On that note, let's take a look at the calls made by Clete Blakeman's officiating crew—calls that began as the Lions took a 13-0 lead, and conspired to effectively steal victory from a surprisingly up-and-coming and impressive team of Lions in a key NFC Central division contest.

THE GREAT GAME ROBBERY OF OCTOBER 14, 2019 - LAMBEAU FIELD, GREEN BAY WI:

2nd Quarter, 10:06 remaining – On third down and 5 at the Detroit 33, Aaron Rogers’ pass toward the right sideline fell incomplete. Lions CB Tracy Walker is flagged for defensive holding on the other side of the field. Replays showed no contact beyond 5 yards and the receiver actually slipping and falling on his own. Instead of a 50+ yard FG attempt, Green Bay now had a first down on the Lions’ 28 and ended up scoring its first touchdown to close Detroit’s lead to 13-7.

3rd Quarter, 14:54 remaining – On the first play of the second half, Walker is flagged for a personal foul of unnecessary roughness on a pass to WR Geronimo Allison. Replays showed the two players playing the ball with Allison diving toward Walker. Walker was attempting to intercept it as they made contact. The resulting penalty moved the Packers from their 22-yard line to the 37, on an eventual field-goal drive that tied the score at 13-13. The call didn't escape the outrage of impartial football analyst Warren Sharp or Lions Insider, who re-tweeted his post.

3rd Quarter, 7:27 remaining – On their own 7-yard line and facing third down and 12, the Packers committed a clear delay of game penalty as the play clock ran itself down and sat at :00 before QB Aaron Rogers even raised his hands to accept the shotgun snap. No call was made. Green Bay didn't convert the third down, yet the lack of a penalty moving the ball back half the distance to their goal line kept punter JK Scott from standing at the very back of the end zone for his kick, and allowed him to push the Lions back to their own 33-yard line.

4th Quarter 12:26 remaining – A third-down pass from Matt Stafford to Kerryon Johnson was ruled on the field as a completion and subsequent fumble for a Lions first down at the Packer 25. Replays showed Johnson taking three steps with possession of the ball prior to the fumble, steps the ESPN crew literally counted out during the replay review. Yet the officials overturned the call, ruling the pass incomplete. Instead of a first down in the red zone, the Lions settled for a fifth field goal from Matt Prader and a 22-13 lead.

4th Quarter 10:16 remaining – A hands-to-the-face call on Tracy Flowers occurred after an 11-yard sack of Rogers on third down and 10 at the Detroit 46. The call turned a punting situation into an automatic first down for Green Bay at the Lions’ 31, and continued a drive that would end with the Packers' second touchdown to cut the Lions’ lead to 22-20. Replays conclusively showed Flowers’ hand on the front of Packer offensive tackle David Bakhtiari's shoulder pad and not his face. Replays also showed the ref waiting until Rogers was sacked before deciding to throw his flag.

4th Quarter 9:03 remaining – On the Packer touchdown, a 35-yard pass from Rogers to Allen Lazard, end-zone pylon video showed Lazard's knee clearly on the ground with the ball on the 1-yard line as he caught the pass (as this photo tweeted by Lions Insider indicates). There was no official review of the scoring play and the call on the field stood as a touchdown.

4th Quarter 7:08 remaining – On second down and 6 on his 41, Stafford threw a deep ball to the Green Bay 22 that wide receiver Marvin Jones could not pull down. Replays showed clear interference on the part of Packer safety Will Redmond, who made contact with Jones and prevented him from making the catch before the ball arrived. The ESPN crew was waiting for a penalty that was never called; the play-by-play announcer started to say “Flag on the field” but changed it to “Flag… nowhere to be found." So instead of a spot foul and first down at the Green Bay 22, easily within range to add a field goal and grow their lead to five points, the Lions ended up punting. They would not possess the ball again.

4th Quarter, 1:45 remaining – On third down and 4 at the Detroit 17, Rogers scrambled around in the pocket before throwing an incompletion in the end zone. After the play Flowers was flagged for his second illegal hands to the face penalty. Replays again showed conclusively that Flowers’ hand was on the shoulder pad of the Packer lineman and did not touch his face. Instead of a fourth-down field goal attempt and, if successful, 1:30 remaining on the clock and the Lions only trailing by two points, the penalty gave Green Bay an automatic first down, allowing the Packers to run the clock down for a last-second, game-winning kick and escape with a 23-22 win.

The Great Game Robbery was a success.

As is its protocol, the league responded by entering Detroit and Green Bay into the appropriate variable fields of its stnadard apology template and hitting send, acknowledging "an officiating error" the following day. NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent called out only one of the calls, the second hands-to-the-face penalty against Flowers, as being incorrect. Or in Vincent's words, "non-existent".

“There was one that was clear that we support,” Vincent said at an NFL owners’ meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “And there was another that when you look at it, when you review the play, it’s not something that you want to see called, in particular on the pass rush... the foul wasn’t there.”

Vincent felt that the first of the two hands-to-the-face calls made by Blakeman's umpire Jeff Rice, in which Flowers came no closer to the lineman's face than the second, was somehow worthy of the penalty. But he of all people should know what a hands-to-the-face call looks like. If he needed to have his memory refreshed, he could just refer to an actual hands-to-the-face violation committed by Bakhtiari against Flowers earlier in the game (see photo) that didn't get so much as a glance from Rice or any of the officials much less a flag.

Blakeman told a reporter after the game that Rice saw prolonged contact to the head or neck of Bakhtiari by Flowers. Twice. When neither time such contact existed. This deserves more than a form-letter apology. If the NFL wants to be seen as having more integrity than its World Wrestling Entertainment counterparts, these officials responsible for changing the outcome of the game if not the 2019 season should be fined and/or suspended. And the league should open an investigation into the reasons for what happened on the field in Green Bay.

The credibility of a legitimate professional sport is a serious issue, one that deserves more than thoughts and prayers from the front office. Quoting Jeff Risdon on USA Today's LionsWire, "Blakeman’s officiating crew flat-out made up calls against the Detroit Lions to gift the Green Bay Packers a win. Even Packers fans were embarrassed by the completely biased officiating and the Lions getting absolutely shafted. The NFL decided the Packers were to win, and their officials made it happen." To help echo the city's displeasure, vseverybody.com, the company behind the popular "Detroit vs Everybody" brand, released a limited-edition line of football gear with "Detroit vs The Refs" screened across the front (see photo at top of article). Needless to say, it should be a hot seller.

Back around the turn of the century I jumped onto the bandwagon of Chris Webber and the Sacramento Kings. It was the most successful period in franchise history, and at their zenith the Kings were pushing the defending World Champion Los Angeles Lakers to the brink in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Leading the series 3-2 and taking control of Game 6 at LA's Staples Center, with the chance to close out the team that would become a dynasty, the Kings were the victim of a barrage one-sided calls throughout the game, in particular a call on a key foul call that flat out didn't happen, allowing the Lakers to escape. Los Angeles ended up winning Games 6 and 7 on its way to a second straight NBA Championship.

Not blind to the difference between Los Angeles and Sacramento markets, it would have been easy to conclude, as the Saints fans had done in January, that the fix was in and the NBA felt it was necessary to do whatever needed to be done to ensure that Shaq and Kobe were in the Finals, driving ratings, revenue and merch sales. But I saw Game 6 myself, and the calls felt carefully crafted, like the fix really was in. Former referee Tim Donaghy revealed a few years later that the two of the three referees officiating Game 6 had deliberately impacted the outcome in the Lakers' favor to force a Game 7. A stunning and unprecedented admission to be sure, yet for those who watched live, it all made perfect sense.

Had the officials from Monday night, or worse yet, people within the NFL front office, conspired to deliberately impact the outcome of the game in favor of Green Bay over Detroit, would the execution of that plan look any different than what we actually saw?