Tom Brady Spoke for Every NFL Fan When He Ripped the Refs in Packers-Lions Game

Chances are if you’ve watched any NFL games this year you’ve noticed that the officials have been very busy throwing flags on plays that seemed to not warrant the calls that were made.

That continued during Sunday’s Week 7 action, including in the Packers-Lions game that came right down to the wire in Detroit.

Tom Brady was on the call of that NFC North showdown for Fox; a few times he spoke for the fans, as he ripped the officiating after three controversial calls were made in the second half.

Breaking down the three calls that Tom Brady didn’t like

The first call that had Brady questioning the refs happened in the third quarter when Green Bay’s Brenton Cox Jr. was called for roughing the passer after he barely hit Jared Goff.

“Not much at all,” Brady said while looking at the replay. “It’s coming off the block. His face is buried. I don’t know about that. I mean, that’s a tough one.”

Here’s that play, which gave the Lions’ offense new life on the drive:

Then in the fourth quarter, Brady got even more upset when Detroit’s Derrick Barnes was called for unnecessary roughness after he hit Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd following an incomplete pass in the middle of the field.

“What?” Brady said. “There’s no way. Oh, come on, man. Come on. [Jordan] Love throws it over the middle. There’s linebackers in the middle. He’s just turning his right shoulder away from it. That’s allowed 99 out of 100 [times]. It’s a bang-bang play. I know in super slow-mo every little minute frame looks like a lot, but when you’re on the field, you’ve got to pursue that ball. If [Lloyd] catches it, [Barnes] needs force to knock him on the ground. He needs force to knock that ball out. He can’t go in there and put his hand on him.”

Here was that play:

The Packers kicked a field goal a few plays later to tie the game at 17-17.

Then in the final minutes of the game, Goff hit Sam LaPorta for an 18-yard gain but the Lions got an additional 15 yards tacked on when Packers defensive tackle Karl Brooks was called for roughing the passer.

Brady again took issue with that call, saying:

“Oh my goodness, what is that?” Brady said. “There’s no way. Brooks on the tackle. Kind of makes a great play. It’s a bang-bang play. He rolls off his body. It’s a great throw by Goff. It’s definitely not roughing the passer. I mean, you just—you’re just ripping through the line of scrimmage to try to get the quarterback on the ground. Look, I love Goff standing there in the pocket. But you just can’t keep tacking on 15 yards.”

Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino agreed with Brady, saying: “It wasn’t late,” Blandino said. “They might have said head/neck area. But this is not head/neck area. His head is up. That’s teach-tape tackle. That’s not roughing the passer.”

Here’s that play:

The Lions were then able to get down the field and kick a game-winning 22-yard field goal as time expired.

Packers star blames refs for ‘f---ing up the games’

Packers All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney didn’t hold back on the officiating after the loss to the Lions.

"I don't know how the NFL's going to treat it, but I'm not a big fan of the refs right now," McKinney said. "I don't think it's great officiating, if I'm being completely honest. I think it's bulls--- a lot of the times.

"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. "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."

The officiating this season has been rough, to say the least. Calls have been up and have often come at key points in the game, much like they did Sunday in Detroit.

What Roger Goodell has said about the officiating this year

Last week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell came to the defense of the refs, saying some of it is on the players to not commit so many penalties.

“Number of fouls can’t be an evaluation of officiating, necessarily,” Goodell said, via Pro Football Talk. “Because we don’t commit the fouls, right? The officials are there to call the fouls, when they exist. So I think when you evaluate officiating, you don’t just look at total number of fouls. I think that’s an inappropriate way to approach it.

“We look more deeply at, are they properly called? And I see that every week, sometimes multiple times a week, where we go through the plays that were called and the things we want to change and the approaches we want to make,” Goodell said. “I think the changes made to our officiating, not just with collective bargaining, but in the offseason with personnel, the processes we have on replay, including replay assist, have all been beneficial and have been very positive things. But we continue that effort. We’re always going to continue that effort.”

It was good to hear Brady voice his frustrations in the moment on Sunday. He arguably has the biggest voice in the game, with his success as a player and his role with as the No. 1 analyst for Fox.

But it seems like Goodell and the rest of the league office aren’t feeling the same way as the legendary QB, which is a shame.