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The Detroit Lions taking on the Green Bay Packers in Fox Sports’ Game of the Week was always going to be a premium affair in Week 7. Given the intensity of the NFC North divisional rivalry, the game turned out to be a slugfest from start to finish.
However, it also brought some questionable calls from the officiating. And Tom Brady, who’s taken over the lead announcing role for the network, wasn’t shy about voicing his criticism of calls he didn’t agree with.
Officiating has always been under the microscope in sports. But the NFL becomes a particularly difficult spot for the referees as well, given the physicality and athleticism on the field.
In the Lions vs. Packers game, though, Brady believed things took a turn for the worse. The two teams combined for 13 penalties for over 130 yards. However, among the most egregious of those calls came in the third quarter.
As the Lions faced 3rd-and-10, Jared Goff’s incomplete pass appeared to force a fourth down. Instead, a roughing-the-passer penalty on Brenton Cox Jr. gave Detroit an automatic first down, a call that drew immediate skepticism from seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.
“Another costly penalty,” Brady initially worried, then later described the play. “Oh, not much at all. Coming off the block, his face is buried. I don’t know about that. I mean…That’s a tough one.”
His commentary led Tanner Phifer to fire up against the officiating crew as well, as he exclaimed, “THE WORST ROUGHING THE PASSER PENALTY in NFL HISTORY #packers Master class acting by Jared Goff? #NFL”
Unfortunately, it was far from the only call that drew his vitriol. Late in the fourth quarter, with the score tied at 17 apiece, the Lions tried to march down the field for a game-winning score.
On that drive, too, a roughing the passer call put them in field goal range almost immediately, where they were able to drain out the clock. It led to a last-second field goal that gave the Lions a 20-17 victory and improved them to 4-2.
But Brady was already incensed with the penalties, and in a critical game with major consequences for the NFC North division race, they became a major part of the story as the Packers fell to last place in the division.
Green Bay, which ranks 21st on PFN’s Offense Impact Metric, will host the Carolina Panthers in Week 8 on Thursday Night Football.