Referees are always the most important men on the pitch in any sport, given they are the ones with the most amount of power. If you are to judge performance from a referee, it is considered the best when the man in question goes unnoticed, and the opposite when he continuously gets into the scheme of things affecting the results of the match.
Something of the latter occurred in the Cleveland Browns’ 24-22 defeat against the Green Bay Packers in the most recent encounter of the NFL.
Cleveland Browns had to fight Covid and the referees for their encounter against Green Bay Packers
The Cleveland Browns were handed out yet another close defeat for the second consecutive NFL matchday, as they came second against the Green Bay Packers. Courtesy of some brilliance from Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers and some appalling refereeing, the Browns were condemned to a 24-22 defeat on the night.
With the Browns already facing an uphill task to win the match, with most of their players out due to injury, they were even more hampered with the refereeing calls, which did not allow them to sneak a victory right at the end, a result which would have come as a major shock given the circumstances.
The biggest shock for the browns came during the final quarter with the score of 24-22 already in favour of the Packers. In the final two minutes, on third down, Browns’ quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a pass intended for wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones, but it was intercepted by Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas to effectively end the game.
However, the problem which was raised by the Browns’ was the fact Douglas looked to have gotten away with defensive pass interference on that play. If the referees had thrown a flag for the foul play, it would have resulted in a fresh set of downs and been set up in game-winning field goal range. Instead, no penalty was called, and Green Bay officially ended things after forcing a false start on Cleveland on third down and inches.
Twitter Reacted furiously on the missed call from the referees
NFL refs should have to do post-game media just like the players. When you mess up that badly, you should be accountable to answer questions about it.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) December 26, 2021Hard to beat the Packers and the Refs. I’m sorry Cleveland
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) December 26, 2021Browns center just doesn't count huh? That's movement on the line by offense. A false start if I've ever seen one.
— YeetEmAndWeep (@YeetEmAndWeep) December 26, 2021Also Read: “I’m happy for him”: Brett Favre lauds Aaron Rodgers as one of the top 5 quarterbacks of all time
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