Ball don’t lie: 3 worst calls from Week 17 in the NFL
By Mark Powell
2. Zebras hate Lions for a reason
The Lions, they say, are kings of the jungle. The Detroit Lions are anything but that in the NFL, but don’t tell that to the officiating crew which went all-out to screw over the team from MoTown in their final game of the season.
First, the Lions were victimized on arguably the worst roughing the passer call I’ve ever seen. No, I am not exaggerating. The tape says it all.
Tracy Walker’s body barely grazed Kirk Cousins (if that) and they flag him for roughing the passer. In the ref’s defense, Tracy Walker was supposed to rip off Cousins’ towel in order to get a clean sack pic.twitter.com/zjNwqrU8bv
— Kendall (@_kendallrjones_) January 3, 2021
Tracy Walker dared to tackle Kirk Cousins on a fourth-and-goal, rather than just forcing the errant throw that was surely coming. Cousins does not typically receive star treatment in part because, well, he’s not that good. The Michigan State product shows flashes, but he hasn’t lived up to the fully-guaranteed monster contract the Vikings gave him years ago. So, Cousins benefitting from this egregious call at Walker’s expense is odd, to say the least.
Sadly, it didn’t end there for the Lions.
The refs really hate the Lions pic.twitter.com/oztXnW2qEY
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) January 4, 2021
This potential game-tying reception by Marvin Jones, Jr. was called a touchdown on the field, which means the officials needed conclusive evidence to overturn it in favor of the Vikings. While the ball does move initially, on the review shown by the FOX broadcast, it looks like Jones still maintains possession throughout the process of making a catch.
Unless the officials had overwhelming, obvious evidence otherwise that the broadcast did not show, the Lions got jobbed. And any Detroit sports fan will be quick to point out this happens quite often to the Lions.