The Detroit Lions feel they were screwed Monday night in Green Bay. With the way this NFL season has played out, join the club.
The Lions were on the wrong end of a couple brutal calls in their “Monday Night Football” loss to the Packers. Most notably, an illegal hands to the face penalty called against Lions pass rusher Trey Flowers extended the Packers’ final drive, setting the stage for Mason Crosby’s game-winning field goal at the gun.
However, replays showed Flowers never got his hand in the face of Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari, as Flowers seemed to have his hand inside the All-Pro’s collar.
YouTube/NFL
Somewhat surprisingly, the NFL posted the full game highlights to YouTube and included the most egregious penalties. You can watch it here with the worst calls coming at 6:30, 10:33 and 12:23 of the video, just to point out a few.
The Lions, especially Flowers — who was called for two dicey hands to the face penalties — understandably were peeved after the game.
Detroit head coach Matt Patricia channeled his former boss, Bill Belichick, with his postgame reaction.
“We all know we can’t have those penalties, whatever caused those to take place,” Patricia said in his postgame press conference. “We’re gonna go back and take a look at it and make sure we’re coaching it better and making sure we’re doing the right things. Just can’t have them, we know how dangerous Aaron (Rodgers), how detrimental those are.”
Lions safety Tracy Walker, who was called for a head-scratching personal foul earlier in the game, was far less diplomatic.
“Extremely pissed off right now,” Walker told reporters after the game, per the Detroit Free Press. “It is what it is. Disappointed. Hurt. We had that game. it’s going — I’m going to say the same s—, we should have won it. It is what it is, though. Got to bounce back.”
Head referee Clete Blakeman spoke to a pool reporter after the game and tried to explain his crew’s calls.
“The umpire threw both of them,” Blakeman said of the hands to the face penalties. “The last one was really the only one I’ve discussed with him. Basically, it’s for illegal use of the hands, hands to the face foul. To be a foul, we basically need some forceful contact that’s prolonged to the head and neck area of the defender. So, in his mind he had him pinned back, it was prolonged, and that’s what created the foul.”
Meanwhile, the NFL’s officiating account remains silent.
