Flowers on wrong end of two calls

Fool an NFL official once, shame on him.

Fool the official twice, shame on the league.

And, make no mistake, that was a shameful performance that precipitated the Packers' 23-22 comeback victory against the Lions as time and comprehension expired on ESPN's Monday Night Football.

The Lions got hosed, no question, and ESPN's Booger McFarland was all over it.

They might have lost anyway. But if the umpire who flagged Lions defensive end Trey Flowers (Arkansas Razorbacks) twice in the fourth quarter for infractions he clearly didn't commit wasn't awarded a game ball by the Packers, he, too, was robbed.

Each call came on a third-down play, helping prolong what turned out to be Packers scoring drives as they rallied from a 22-13 deficit.

Both times Flowers was accused and convicted of illegal use of hands, specifically hands to the face of Packers offensive lineman David Bakhtiari, who was trying to block him.

Both times, video clearly showed Flowers' hand instead was on Bakhtiari's shoulder pad.

The first call, which negated a sack with about 10 minutes remaining, was wounding. The second, with 1:36 to play, all but sealed the Lions' fate by giving the Packers a first down at the Lions 11 to set up Mason Crosby's game-winning field goal four plays later.

"Again, that is a terrible call!" said ESPN analyst McFarland, flustered both by the penalty and the fact play-by-play man Joe Tessitore had been talking over him. "That's twice on Trey Flowers in crucial situations that the refs have blown the call."

John Parry, the former NFL official who is ESPN's rules expert, tried -- and failed -- to come up with an alibi for referee Clete Blakeman's crew.

"Let's see if we can find something in the neck because keep in mind [the penalty is for a hand in the] neck or face mask," Parry said. "But Booger, I do agree, based on what we've seen so far, it does look like he's on the shoulder pad rather than the neck."

As if viewers couldn't see that for themselves.

"That's a bad call!" McFarland said. "That can't happen!"

Oh, but it does.

It happens a lot.

Especially, it seems, this season.

Compounding the travesty, some of the worst calls -- like this one -- aren't reviewable by replay.

Then again, so many calls this season that seemed as if they should be reversed by replay haven't been, so we should view the absence of an appeal opportunity as merely a time-saver.

Frankly, it's beginning to seem as though the only way to quiet dissatisfaction about officiating in the NFL is to stop televising games.

That way blown calls would largely be a matter of speculation rather than an affront to the eyesight and judgment of millions of fans.

Tessitore, still sounding as though there was a shred of legitimacy to the two phantom infractions on Flowers, pointed out Flowers never before in his career had been called for hands to the face.

"And he shouldn't have been called tonight," McFarland shot back. "Let's make sure we let America know that. That's twice. The first time it cost [the Lions] a sack. This time it cost them the game."

Blakeman, speaking to a pool reporter after the game, metaphorically put his own hands in the public's face.

"The umpire threw both of them," Blakeman said. "The last one was really the only one I've discussed with him. Basically, it's for illegal use of the hands, hands-to-the-face foul. To be a foul, we basically need some forceful contact that's prolonged to the head and neck area of the defender.

"So in his mind he had pinned him back, it was prolonged, and that's what created the foul."

In the umpire's mind, maybe, but not in reality.

Not on the second call, the one Blakeman cited.

Not on the first, which turned a sack of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers into a first down when the Lions led 22-13.

"Boog, you're right, I think we get fooled there based on where the hand is in the upper part of the chest rather than the neck or the mask," Parry said after McFarland pointed out the first screwed-up call.

Said McFarland: "That's inexcusable. That cannot happen on a play like that."

You'd be surprised what the NFL excuses -- or maybe not.

"I didn't think hands to the chest was a penalty," Flowers told reporters.

It shouldn't be, but the officials got it backward.

They kept the Packers alive -- and buried Flowers.

Sports on 10/16/2019

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