Ball Don’t Lie: 3 worst calls from Week 1 including Steelers, Eagles and Cardinals

The NFL season returned with a bang this weekend. The slate featured several standout games, from unexpected blowouts, to shocking upsets and everything in between. There is no shortage of material to write home about. Football is back, baby, and this season is already shaping up to feature maximum entertainment.

There are so many juicy storylines after Week 1. Saquon Barkley clowning the Giants indirectly. The Falcons flubbing the Kirk Cousins debut. Matthew Stafford coming up just short against his former team. And, oh yeah, the refs. Because the refs love to ref, and we cannot let a week of NFL football pass without discussing the folks donning black-and-white stripes.

This was not the most egregious weekend on the officiating front, but there were several rotten calls that drew attention away from the actual football. It's an impossible problem for the league — you can't play without refs and these refs are, despite their reputation, the best in the world — but it's hard to build faith in the product when so much fan energy is devoted each week to disputing the viability of its stewards. Refs are supposed to make sure the game runs smoothly, cleanly. More often than not, they end up mucking it up.

Here are some of the weekend's worst calls.

3. Brazil gets full NFL experience with egregious Eagles-Packers call

The Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers lined up on shoddy turf Friday evening in Brazil for a highly anticipated season opener. With new coordinators and Saquon Barkley in the mix, Philadelphia found exploitable holes in the Green Bay defense. Meanwhile, Jordan Love was a few avoidable mistakes away from getting the Packers over the finish line. His last-second injury was a huge disappointment in a game the Eagles narrowly won.

By hosting the game in Sao Paulo, the NFL continues its effort to globalize America's favorite sport. The Brazilian crowd was treated to first-rate football and the league should reap its financial rewards accordingly. The fans also got a comprehensive experience of NFL fandom, though, which means at least a couple head-scratching penalty flags to raise the ole blood pressure.

Few penalties engender more rage across the NFL fandom than a bad roughing the passer call. The league has taken every step necessary to protect quarterbacks, which is ostensibly a very good thing. We need to protect players in a sport that can lead to lifelong injury side effects.

That said, the extensive focus on bubble-wrapping quarterbacks can sometimes lead to calls like this. Love is falling back as he throws and Eagles linebacker Zack Baun, already in a full-on sprint, has nowhere else to go and no time to pivot. He drives through Love's chest in what is normally completely legal fashion. But, because Love had released the football and was technically a "defenseless" player, the Eagles were slapped with a 15-yard penalty.

It is quite literally impossible for Baun to do anything other than hit Love square in the chest at this point. Alas, such is life in the NFL.

2. Another mysterious roughing the passer call on Josh Allen's non-throw

The Buffalo Bills mounted an impressive comeback to defeat the Arizona Cardinals 34-28 on Sunday afternoon. Josh Allen was in typical MVP form, practically dragging Buffalo to victory on his own two shoulders. Not only did Allen complete 18-of-23 passes for 232 yards and a couple touchdowns, but he added 39 yards and two more scores on the ground.

That said, there was a moment toward the end of the second quarter that was utterly perplexing for reasons beyond Allen's control. With less than a minute on the clock, Arizona linebacker Zaven Collins wrapped up Allen behind the line of scrimmage. At first glance, it was a clean sack — a simple loss of yards. The refs, however, tossed the yellow flag and awarded Buffalo a roughing the passer call.

I'm old enough to remember when roughing the passer implied a pass that was thrown.

Collins did hit Allen's helmet with his forearm, but it was fleeting and incidental contact. The tackle as a whole was completely legal and, despite what appeared to govern the refs' decision, the tackle did not involve a covert grab of the facemask.

Essentially, a tremendous defensive stop was transformed into free yardage for the Bills. Arizona fans were rightfully peeved. In theory, refs have the power to overturn bad roughing the passer calls, but this one stood and, in due time, Buffalo came back to win the game. That makes it sting all the more for the Cardinals.

1. T.J. Watt offsides penalty was the only thing keeping Steelers pass rush at bay in Atlanta

The Pittsburgh Steelers' defense had its way with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The 18-10 final score hardly does it justice. Kirk Cousins was a complete stick in the mud in his return from an Achilles injury. He deserves patience and understanding after so much time off, but the Falcons' tough early schedule won't be too forgiving if Cousins can't move around the pocket at all. The Steelers took advantage of his stationary quarterbacking with two sacks and seven QB hits.

T.J. Watt was responsible a sack, two tackles for a loss, and three QB hits. It was among the most dominant defensive performances of the weekend. The Pro Bowl linebacker had his way with what is ostensibly a solid Falcons O-line. Cousins' injury obviously made his job easier.

There was a slight blemish, however, when Watt was called for an offsides penalty in the second quarter. That negated a beautifully executed strip-sack of Cousins, which would have boosted Watt's impressive statistical output even further.

Upon closer inspection, however, it doesn't look like Watt was even offsides.

Essentially, Watt timed the snap so perfectly that the refs couldn't comprehend it. At full speed, it does look like Watt is over the line of scrimmage before the snap. If you slow the video down and go frame by frame, however, it appears as though Watt crosses the line exactly as the snap is released to Cousins. He's moving before the snap, but that is totally legal. He doesn't cross the line of scrimmage until the play is active.

This is just textbook defensive execution from one of the game's most intimidating pass rushers. Watt deserves his flowers, but in this instance, he was slapped with a penalty instead. Bummer.