Tonight's Lions-Cowboys contest saw a man bites dog outcome, with a DPI (defensive pass interference) call overturned that WAS clearly a penalty under old or new rules and a series of penalties on the ensuing drive spur the Cowboys on to a victory. The officials called a penalty, then inexplicably picked up the flag.
Former NFL Official Supervisor Mike Pereira commented that it was definitely DPI.
Rumors circulate that Vegas had called this game for the Cowboys. Twitter was lit up with conversations about official intervention in the outcome.
Seriously, sports fans live with bad plays, bad decisions, and bad calls every day. Coaching a basketball game yesterday, I had the OPPOSING COACH come up to me and say, "did you do something to these officials? They're calling everything against you."
Officials are human. They make mistakes, which is why instant replay both came into being and have regularly expanded. But today's series of calls makes you wonder HOW OFTEN games are thrown or fixed. We know from the Tim Donaghy experience that professional sports officiating shenanigans happen.
The sad part of today's game isn't that the Cowboys won or the Lions lost. Rather it's the reality that the officiating calls the integrity of the game into question. And that's a question that just won't disappear as easily as the Lions.
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