Poor officiating has become something of trend in the NFL this season, and the NFL is finally apologizing for it — if only to one coach.
Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier said in his Monday press conference that a league official called him on Monday to explain some of the questionable calls from Sunday’s 29-26 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore. The conversation covered an array of calls, including Toby Gerhart‘s first-quarter fumble that was upheld by officials after review even though replay blatantly showed his knee was down before losing possession of the ball.
Frazier wouldn’t delve too deep into the specifics of his conversation, but he acknowledged that they discussed Gerhart’s fumble among other things.
“We did talk about the Gerhart play,” Frazier said, per 1500 ESPN in Minnesota. “It was a good conversation. The fact that they called should give you an indication of how they felt about things on that day. That was encouraging that they wanted to talk about that game from [Sunday].”
Aside from the fumble, which Frazier said officials told him “wasn’t conclusive enough to overturn,” the coach was also frustrated by a few controversial pass interference calls. One of the penalties was called on safety Robert Blanton midway through the fourth quarter, which led to the Raven’s first of three touchdowns in the final minutes, and the other was called on linebacker Chad Greenway on the Ravens’ final touchdown drive that negated safety Andrew Sendejo‘s would be game-winning interception.
“There were a lot of things I thought could’ve been called pass interference throughout that ball game,” Frazier said. “For those two to be called, it bewildered me.”
Frazier said that the NFL also called him once earlier this season as well to explain some other officiating decisions, but he wouldn’t divulge any further information about that situation.
Considering the way the Vikings have played this season, it’s unlikely that a few calls would have changed much for Minnesota this season, but it is encouraging to know that the NFL is at least taking some responsibility for the officiating blunders.
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