Packers’ Xavier McKinney Calls Officiating ‘Bull****’ – And He’s Right

DETROIT – Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney had the perfect word in mind to describe the officiating in Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Bull****.

He’s right. This is my 19th season on the Packers beat. I’ve never written a blame-the-refs story because blaming the referees is only something that losers do. But on Sunday, in a critical game against a division rival that could have wide-ranging ramifications by the end of the season, the Packers got the raw end of the deal on practically every important call.

So, it’s no wonder why McKinney – as calmly as possible – put the officials on blast after his team’s three-game winning streak was snapped and it fell to last place in the powerful NFC North.

“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 bull**** a lot of the times. I think there are drives where they make calls that don’t even make any sense.”

McKinney offered one example. On second-and-11 midway through the third quarter, Jared Goff completed a short pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown. St. Brown was wrapped up by Isaiah McDuffie and taken down, but St. Brown acted as if he wasn’t down so kept going.

Devonte Wyatt tackled St. Brown, who wound up tripping up the umpire, Terry Killens Jr. Killens from his back threw a penalty on Wyatt for unnecessary roughness.

“The runner was still running and we didn’t hear a whistle,” McKinney continued. “We tried to get him down and then their player hit the ref and he falls, he gets mad on the ground, and he just throws the flag. He don’t even know who hit him.”

Incredible Explanation by Officials

In a pool report, referee Alex Moore – incredibly – had this to say.

“We ruled that the play was over. I can’t honestly hear if there was a whistle or not, but the tackler made the tackle, the play was over. Then, there was an additional action, and he basically tackled him again with force after the play was over.”

So, the referee didn’t hear the whistle. St. Brown obviously didn’t hear the whistle. But the Packers’ defenders must have heard the whistle so, therefore, a penalty flag was thrown.

Make sense?

Not to coach Matt LaFleur.

“There was no whistle blown and the guy continued to run and our guy didn’t hear a whistle, he continued to play, too, and then we get called for a penalty,” LaFleur said. “So, I don’t know. They were trying to tell me the play was obviously dead. I’m like, ‘How do you know if you don’t hear a whistle?’ So, I don’t know if you guys heard a whistle, I did not hear a whistle.”

Wyatt said he didn’t hear the whistle.

“If you asked me right now, I’d do the same thing 100 times over,” he said. “So, that’s the refs. They got to figure out what they need to do because I definitely did my job.”

Of course, Wyatt made the tackle. Because what if he didn’t? LaFleur tells his players to play through the “echo of the whistle.” In this case, there was no echo to hear.

“What if he would’ve got up and ran for a touchdown? Then everybody would be looking at D-Wy like, ‘You let him go’. I feel like I did the right thing. Flag or not, I feel like I did the right thing.”

So, instead of third-and-7, the Lions got a first down and, one play later, scored the go-ahead touchdown.

Then, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Jordan Love was flagged for intentional grounding, even though Love’s pass was right on line to tight end Tucker Kraft.

“So, we ruled that although the quarterback was outside of the tackle box, the pass did not make it to the line of scrimmage,” Moore said. “So, that’s where the intentional grounding came in.”

The ball fell short of the destination because Love was taken to the turf, though the officials were correct in that the ball landed behind the line of scrimmage.

“Yeah, you know, it was said that the ball was short of the line of scrimmage,” Love said. “I thought we had a receiver right there in the area. It is what it is.”

Meanwhile, the Packers came into the game with six penalties for roughing the passer against zero for their opponents. That swelled to 8-0 on Sunday.

First, with about 4 minutes left in the third quarter, Brenton Cox shoved Lions quarterback Jared Goff right in the midsection. It appeared he tried to catch him. It wasn’t as weak of a call as the one on Lukas Van Ness last week, but it wasn’t far behind.

“I’m confused, too,” Wyatt said. “I guess we’re supposed to, just, I don’t know. I can’t even tell you.”

Finally, with less than 3 minutes to go in the game, defensive tackle Karl Brooks was flagged for roughing when he hit Goff immediately after the pass. Goff pointed at Moore for the flag and got it on command, much to Brooks’ dismay.

 “So, it just be bull**** that’s going on, bull**** calls, and I can’t really tell you because sometimes we’re not seeing the same calls for our quarterback, we’re not seeing the same calls for our offensive guys,” McKinney said.

“I just don’t really understand. It really don’t matter if it’s home or away, it’s kind of been consistent throughout the year. Obviously, it’s not to make it as an excuse but I just say it got to go both ways, man. That’s all I’ll say.”

Xavier McKinney Doesn't Care About Fine

McKinney had more to say, though. And he doesn’t care about the fine that’s probably going to come.

Asked if he thought the Packers had a stolen from him, he said:

“For sure. At critical moments in the game – like, these are critical drives,” he said. “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. 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 NFL has a major officiating problem. That’s been clear for years. But an industry that’s worth billions and is awash in gambling money needs to do better given there’s so much at stake.

“It is what it is, man,” McKinney said. “They’re going to fine you for anything at this point in this league, so that’s what I know. I would rather get fined and try to help my team out because I see what’s going on and it’s killing us. We all see it. We all see what’s going on. Everyone sees what’s going on, the fans see what’s going on, we see what’s going on when we’re out there.

“I’m looking at the plays and I’m like, ‘Hold up, why are they calling this? It don’t even make any sense.’ And then the fact you’re not even reviewing what you’re calling. You’re just calling it and you’re seeing it and even they’re looking at it, like, ‘OK, that’s not a …’ I’m asking the other refs, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m not over there.’  It’s a lot of sh** that doesn’t make sense right now. But, at the end of the day, we’ve still got to find a way to go there and win these games. It’s making it a little bit harder when the officiating is that way, if I’m being honest.”

Good for McKinney for pointing out the, well, bull**** from a league that cares about nothing more than making money, the teams, the players, the outcome of games and the public be damned.

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