The officials really got under the Green Bay Packers' skins in Week 7, and Tom Brady was squarely in their corner, disputing call after call during a flag-filled showdown the Detroit Lions won 20-17 on Sunday.
The superstar QB-turned-TV commentator took issue with multiple debatable calls by referee Alex Moore's crew Sunday at Ford Field that had the Packers flummoxed.
“You can't keep tacking on 15 yards,” an exasperated Brady said on Fox's broadcast
after Green Bay defensive tackle Karl Brooks was flagged for roughing the passer late in the fourth quarter, one of several questionable rulings in the marquee matchup, most of which went against the Packers.
Fox brought in rules analyst Dean Blandino, and the former NFL vice president of officiating, as he had all afternoon, concurred with Brady: “This is teach-tape tackle. That's not roughing the passer.”
Brady and Blandino also disputed the other roughing-the-passer penalty on the Packers — although not as forcefully — when defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. was flagged in the third quarter.
A delayed intentional grounding call on Packers quarterback Jordan Love had Brady and play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt confused.
“Tucker Kraft was right there” Brady said, adding it was “certainly in the direction” of the tight end and “definitely not grounding.”
“They really missed that call,” Brady added. Burkhardt called the flag “crazy” and Blandino agreed with their analysis.
“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 told a pool reporter after the game. "So, that’s where the intentional grounding came in.”
Moore said the ball couldn’t merely be in the direction of Kraft and that “it has to actually reach where he is if it doesn’t get to the line of scrimmage” to avoid an intentional grounding penalty.
“That is not grounding,” Blandino said on the telecast.
Brady also took issue with a call against Detroit, suggesting Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes didn't deserve an unnecessary roughness flag for bumping running back MarShawn Lloyd after a pass sailed over Lloyd's head.
“He's just turning his right shoulder away from it,” Brady said. “That's allowed 99 out of 100 times. It’s a bang-bang play. When you’re on the field, you’ve got to pursue that ball. If he catches it, he needs the force to knock him on the ground as a pass defense.”
In the third quarter, Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown got tackled after catching a pass, then started running again before defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt chased him and brought him down. Wyatt was called for unnecessary roughness, and Jared Goff threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams two plays later.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur and Wyatt said after the game that they didn’t hear a whistle before St. Brown got up.
“We ruled the play was over,” Moore told a pool reporter. “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.”
“Yeah, well, there was no whistle blown," LaFleur said. “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 penalties. So, I don't know. They were trying to tell me that the play was obviously dead. I'm like, 'How do you know if you don't hear a whistle?'”
All the yellow flags that had so many seeing red overshadowed a big gamble by Lions coach Dan Campbell. Known for taking risks, he seemed to make a reckless decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his 24 with just under 5 minutes to play in a tie game and Jahmyr Gibbs lost 2 yards on the play.
“I thought we would get it, No. 1,” Campbell explained. “No. 2, I knew we would get the ball back if it didn’t work out.”
He was right on that latter point.
Detroit got the ball back after Packers rookie Trey Smack missed a 35-yard field goal when D.J. Wonnum got a finger on the football.
Jake Bates made a 22-yard field goal as time expired to give Detroit the win, capping a drive that featured the debatable roughing call on Brooks.
Then, facing third-and-5 at the 2-minute warning, the Lions successfully drew a neutral zone infraction on Brooks, which helped them run down the clock before Bates kicked the winner as time expired.
When Brooks was flagged for the infraction, the Lions offense broke into a synchronized chaotic celebration, an homage to the classic animated dance from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
A week earlier, Packers receiver Matthew Golden had drawn a taunting flag for flexing his biceps after a crucial catch against the Cowboys even as the broadcast had one player posing in that very position for introductions.
There were no flags thrown at Detroit as several Lions players performed independent wildly animated dances after Brooks jumped and guard Christian Mahogany got into Brooks' face, pointing at the culprit and appearing to even tap Brooks' helmet as his teammates gyrated around him.
His team ultimately bailed out Campbell for his dicey decision on fourth down — with some help from the officiating crew.
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With contributions from AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Detroit.
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Behind the Call analyzes the biggest decisions in the NFL during the season.
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