The Washington Commanders lost Sunday night’s game to the New York Giants in a controversial fashion thanks to a few sketchy decisions from NFL referees. But after the game, the officials defended those decisions.
On what appeared to be a potential game-tying touchdown, wide receiver Terry McLaurin was flagged for an illegal procedure penalty for not being lined up correctly, even though he says the official specifically told him he was lined up correctly before the ball was snapped. But after the game, head referee John Hussey said the referee is not obligated to give a player that information.
“Not typically, and the official could be doing other things, like counting the offense – there’s a multitude of different duties,” Hussey said. “So, I can’t confirm whether the official even saw that or not, but he was clearly off the line of scrimmage. . . . What I was told and what has been confirmed is that the ball was snapped at the half-yard line, and he was lined up a yard back at the one-and-a-half-yard line. In order to be deemed legal he needs to break the belt line, the waist of the center, and he was not breaking the waistline of the center. That’s why the penalty was called, because he was not in a legal formation.”
On the following play, the officials declined to throw a flag on what appeared to many as an obvious pass interference. Hussey defended that decision, too.
“Pass interference is a judgment call,” Hussey said. “To the officials it didn’t rise to what they felt was a restriction, thus they didn’t call it. That’s basically the bottom line there. It’s a judgment call and they didn’t believe it was pass interference.”
It’s safe to say Commanders fans won’t be happy about these explanations.
