The Green Bay Packers voiced their displeasure with the officiating crew both during and after their 20-17 loss at the Detroit Lions on Sunday from Ford Field.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur vehemently argued an unncecessary roughness penalty midway through the third quarter that came on the heels of a 4-yard pickup by Amon-Ra St. Brown on a pass from Jared Goff.
St. Brown was tackled by Packers linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and appeared to be down and the play over. But, then as St. Brown stood up, it looked like he might be trying to gain more yardage and continue the play. Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt tackled St. Brown again.
In the sequence of being tackled, St. Brown's cleat connected with umpire Terry Killens Jr. After Killens tripped
and fell, Killens tossed the flag for unnecessary roughness from his back.
Fighting breaking out between the Packers and the Lions and the ref takes a cleat straight to the gut pic.twitter.com/H18GgBCUZH
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) October 25, 2026
LaFleur and the Packers argued that a whistle never blew, and that's why Wyatt tackled St. Brown again.
"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."
Instead of a 3rd-and-7 from the Green Bay 23-yard line, the Lions got a fresh set of downs from the Packers' 11-yard line. Detroit turned it into a 10-yard touchdown pass from Goff to Jameson Williams.
After the Lions walked the Packers off with a 22-yard Jake Bates field goal, MLive's Ben Raven had a PFWA pool report with referee Alex Moore where he asked about that play and if a whistle ever blew before Wyatt tackled St. Brown.
"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," Moore said.
Raven asked if it's safe to say that the additional action is why the play was penalized.
"It was exactly the additional action," Moore said.
The Packers were also frustrated by an intentional grounding penalty on Love on the first play of the fourth quarter. It backed the Packers up and wound up leading to a Brian Branch interception.
What are your thoughts on the refs ruling this intentional grounding on Jordan Love? pic.twitter.com/J4dln461yQ
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 26, 2026
Raven asked Moore why Packers tight end Tucker Kraft was not considered the intended target on the play.
"So we ruled that although the quarterback was outside of the tackle box, the pass did not make it to the line of scrimmage. So, that's where the intentional grounding came in. Either to the line of scrimmage or into the area where (Kraft) is. It just can't be in the direction, it has to actually reach where he is if it doesn't get to the line of scrimmage," Moore said.
There were two other roughing the passer calls that the Packers took exception to, one in the third quarter and another on the Lions' game-winning drive. Goff connected with tight end Sam LaPorta for an 18-yard pickup and was hit by Packers defensive tackle Karl Brooks, who was flagged for the roughing the passer.
Packers All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney didn't mince words, ripping the officials after Sunday's game.
"I don't know how the NFL's going to treat it, but I'm not a big fan of the refs right now. I don't think it's great officiating, if I'm being completely honest. I think it's (expletive) 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. 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 (expletive) up the games, if I'm being honest," McKinney said.
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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions-Packers referee comments on pair of penalties in pool report
