Scott Van Pelt has had enough of the NFL’s officiating this season, and the latest wave of flags pushed him over the edge.
The ESPN anchor took aim at the league’s refs on the most recent episode of “SVPod,” after another Sunday packed with calls that drew plenty of attention, including the Lions-Packers game. That matchup featured a roughing the passer penalty that hurt Green Bay’s defense, along with an unnecessary roughness call on Devontae Wyatt that raised eyebrows.
Packers safety Xavier McKinney also blasted the way the game was being handled afterward. “It’s annoying even talking about it because these are critical drives throughout the game, and we might have a drive where we’re getting stops but you’re calling penalties and it’s like, this is not a penalty,” McKinney said postgame. “To me, it just don’t really make any sense, and it’s killing our momentum, it’s killing our drives, and it’s kind of f---ing up the games, if I’m being honest.”
Van Pelt’s gripe was broader than one game. He said the constant flagging and nonstop debate around how games are officiated has gone too far.
“The problem is the amount of conversation about how games are adjudicated and the amount of times that you’re throwing flags … I think it’s b-----,“ Van Pelt said, via Awful Announcing. “I think the officiating, it’s inconsistent.
The only consistent thing seems to be third-down flags. That just can’t be what they want.”
For Van Pelt, the answer is not just a tweak here or there. He thinks the league needs to rethink the entire system and lean on technology to help create more consistency.
“I think that there’s a fix if you’re willing to look at it in totality and say, ‘How can we take technology, use it as an aid to take an imperfect thing … and create more consistency with it, something. Because I feel like the volume on the chatter, and I’m adding to it at this point, is just not what the league would want.
Because you’ve got the product that’s the most popular product that we have. And I don’t just mean in sports, I mean at all.
And too often I think through seven weeks, there’s been, ‘Look how many flags,’ look at when they’re thrown. How do you just tighten it up?
That’s all.’”
Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter made a similar point, calling out what he sees as a lopsided officiating situation in the Packers-Lions game. “We’re at an all-time high as far as flags.
So, before the game, man, these refs, they’re throwing flags at an all-time high. But also, guess what the refs are watching before this game?
The refs are watching the Green Bay Packers, not only their stats as a team, but I think more penalties than anybody in the league,” Carter said, via PFSN.
With Week 8 approaching, the noise around officiating isn’t slowing down.
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