It was a crucial primetime matchup between division rivals that carried with it massive postseason implications. So, of course, NFL officials found a way to mess it up.
The moment occurred in the first quarter when Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford threw what appeared to be a touchdown pass to tight end Terrance Ferguson. However, the score was overturned after officials assessed an illegal man downfield penalty.
Prime Video rules analyst Terry McAulay, usually a defender of the officials whenever controversial plays arise, said the referees blew the call.
“This really isn’t a foul,” McAulay said. “He blocks a defensive line-on-line, and he can drive him as far as he wants. He comes off contact, and the defender actually pushes him by and actually forces him beyond that yard. So, it really isn’t a foul for him being illegally downfield because of that action.”
The missed call did nothing to calm the waters of controversy surrounding the Rams and NFL officiating.
Two days before the refs errantly took a touchdown and, as it turns out, a win, away from Los Angeles (the refs took a TD away in a game LA lost by one point), Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua put the officials on blast for trying to make themselves the story of the game by making nonsensical calls.
“The refs are the worst,” Nacua said. “… Some of the rules aren’t … These guys want to be … these guys are lawyers. They want to be on TV too. You don’t think he’s texting his friends in the group chat like, ‘Yo, you guys just saw me on “Sunday Night Football.” That wasn’t P.I., but I called it.”
The comment was overshadowed because of Nacua’s antisemitic touchdown dance that also occurred during the same livestream. However, calls like the one that took a touchdown away from his team last night are precisely the type of calls he was referring to.
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