You saw the plays. And you probably fumed a little.
During the Week 6 Monday Night Football showdown between the Lions and the Packers, two crucial illegal hands to the face penalties were called against Lions defensive lineman Trey Flowers.
The first call kept a fourth-quarter Packers drive alive, and Aaron Rodgers eventually connected with Allen Lazard to pull the Packers within two, 22-20. The second came even later, Packers down two and driving with under two minutes to go.
And, man, did the Internet lose its mind when that one eventually led to Mason Crosby's game-winning chip shot. Although the NFL eventually admitted the referees bungled the second call, the damage was done:
First pic: illegal hands to the “face” penalty to keep a drive alive after a third down sack.
Second pic: not pass interference.
Hey but they’re trying their best out there. pic.twitter.com/Iecs6SzGXr
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) October 15, 2019
Refs handing the Packers another victory! What a joke! Terrible calls! Illegal hands to the face called twice and both were wrong. His hand is on the shoulder pads both times! pic.twitter.com/QGHEJhoxaD
— Michael Tjebben (@TheRealMTjebben) October 15, 2019
Even the normally soft-spoken and humble Barry Sanders got in on the action:
I know that no one on the @lions can say it, so I will... that is a terrible missed call, on hands to the face and bad break for our D that is playing so hard. #replayhelpneeded
— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) October 15, 2019
That is sickening... the @NFL needs to look at a way to prevent that from happening. Two phantom hands to the face calls really hurts us tonight. Yes, we could have scored TDs, but @Lions played too well to have the game end this way. #DETvsGB @espn
— Barry Sanders (@BarrySanders) October 15, 2019
Speaking Wednesday at the Rooney Complex, Steelers linemen David DeCastro and Alejandro Villanueva weighed in, giving their thoughts from the perspective of both offensive and defensive players.
"Yeah, are we putting it on the officials again? I feel like it's just part of the circus, man," DeCastro began. "I think it's a hard job they got to do, you know what I mean? I don't know how you help them out. It's bang-bang stuff. I don't know. It's just tough. I feel like every year it's the same kind of story. There's always one game or something happens in a tough part of the game. It's just kind of part of it, the way I look at that. I don't know what you can do."
Villanueva echoed that sentiment.
"I think being a referee is very tough and challenging because too many things are happening all at once," Villanueva was saying. "First, you have to give credit to the referees for trying to officiate a game. It's not an easy task. So I'm not going to be the one saying that things should change and this should be done in a certain way because, you know, quite frankly I don't know what's behind the curtain of being a referee.
"Some of the calls are tough. Some of the battles are ongoing. Some of the penalties sometimes get called because some things happen two or three times and the referee's just going to call it. So maybe he missed it on the play before and he's going to call it when he sees the hands close to the facemask the second time."
Regarding the specific penalty — that "illegal use of hands/hands to the face" call that's seen a spike in 2019 — both DeCastro and Villanueva admitted it's simply a tough call to make.
"Yeah, I feel like they've gotten better since I've been in the league at picking up on some stuff," DeCastro said. "But football's got a lot of little rules, little intricacies that make it tough. They got a hard job. They got bosses they're trying to listen to and do their job. That's for sure."
"My opinion with the hands to the face call, the only thing I would say is that if the defender does put the hands on your facemask and he gets a sack or a quarterback hit, then you should call it," Villanueva added. "Because obviously I couldn't see him. I don't know where my hands are going. My head's going backwards. But if he doesn't touch the quarterback, you know, and he gets away — I mean, I've gotten hands to the face plenty of times [that haven't] been called. I understand.
"I played defense, too, and I know what the defender is trying to do, which is the same thing the tackle's trying to do. We're trying to engage each other and trying to block each other. So, a small inch, you know, on your elbow going up because maybe the tackle’s pushed your hands up or something, you can end up in your facemask. So it's tough. It's not an easy problem. It's not something that I have an answer or I can tell you, 'Oh, the ref should do this.' It's a very complex issue, I think."
Adding to that complexity is this: The NFL is a business. Villanueva understands that well.
"You could watch 10 clips and 10 referees are going to have different opinions. With that, I guess, then you have to look at the business side of things and keep the consumers happy. I think that should be the priority, to make sure that the fans are enjoying the game. If they don't care about tackles and defensive linemen, then who cares? Let's just play the game. That's just my opinion."
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