Referees with questionable calls lately

I would like to pre-face this article personally saying that I am not insinuating the referees are purposefully attempting sabatoge or intentionally ruining the Ravens chances in football games. I will be however mention the calls have been bad and I'm calling the zebra's and the league out on their wrong-doing. Everybody makes mistakes and I understand that. But the recent calls seem embarrasingly bad.

Does everybody remember Terrell Suggs hitting Legarrette Blount in the hip/buttocks last year when the stop of forward progress was reached and the ref didn't blow the whistle? He hit him in the butt cheeks and people threw an absolute fit about him becoming a dirty player. He played to the whistle and didn't violently attack Blount, but hit him in the hip when the refs didn't signal the play dead. We have seen first hand people's outrage against that play. Suggs has a clear case why that happened now, after the play against the Baltimore Ravens from Arizona and one of my personal favorite running backs Chris Johnson escaped a dead play (not according to the refs) for a 62 yard scamper.

Now just imagine on that play Za'Darius Smith (standing over Chris Johnson) dropping his 6 foot 4 inch & 275 pound frame atop CJ. The referees would instantly toss the flag for unnecessary roughness. The outrage of "another dirty bird playing like the team he plays for" would be the outcry. And since he did not the Cardinals gained 62 yards. Thanks to a terrible catch-22 for the Ravens.

Same game, John Urschel marches towards the Ravens huddle and does the hand signal on jersey number showing he is an eligible receiver. The referee is looking at him. Joe Flacco is pointing at the John Urschel to show the referee as well. The ref is LOOKING RIGHT AT HIM. And yet they call the penalty. And the Ravens were forced to settle for a field goal on that possession. Hmmm... strange?

Now, all the calls aren't against the Ravens. The Detroit Lions had the most punishing calls as the "batted ball" ruling screwed them from having the ball on the 1 yard line with a first and goal; also, the clock sitting around two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The referee is staring at it. Don't believe me, look right here!

Another instance of terrible officiating was this weeks game of Miami against Buffalo. Ndamakoung Suh, wraps up Tyrod Taylor on a 3rd down and is swingin him around the field. Tyrod after playing merry-go-round with Suh throws the ball away because the referees decided not to call the play dead. He knows the reputation of himself could have resulted in unnecessary roughness so he opted to wait out the refs instead of laying into the quarterback. He is on video yelling at the ref, "You gotta call that dead, or I'm gonna slam the f*ck out of him!"

The video can be seen here. NSFW Language

Before the toss by Tyrod Suh has him 11 yards deep into the backfield, which would have resulted in a 4th & 15 at the 45 yard line. No chance for a field goal, meaning the Dolphins get a possession with the punt. But instead, Taylor & the Bills received a holding penalty on the play. What should have been a punt was instead a replay of third down resulting in a Sammy Watkins touchdown for Buffalo.

Clearly the officiating is getting embarrassing for the NFL as of late, and the League needs to figure it out. These calls are changing the results of football games.