“MNF” match between Bills and Jets marred by embarrassing behavior of officials

A few weeks into the 2024 season, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell managed to dodge a growing story from Season 23 related to the league's officialdom crisis. After the game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, he no longer has that luxury.

Over the course of 60 minutes of prime time, a bumbling, hypersensitive team hurled 22 flags, many in quick succession from one game to the next. Many of these calls resulted in equally terrible makeup-style calls, not to mention what looked like a botched call on the field but was quickly aborted by the locker room meeting, leaving a distraught coach unable to do so , to challenge him (although this coach probably was). John Parry, a longtime NFL referee and former ESPN in-house rules analyst, issued the challenge.

Here's how you can tell the game was poorly officiated: When the league's broadcast partners, who are essentially paid a handsome salary to present a product to the masses in the best light, can't excuse what's unfolding before their eyes.

Let's discuss some of the more egregious moments, all of which occurred in the final two frantic quarters of an absolutely critical AFC East divisional game with first place on the line:

• With 9:32 left in the third quarter, Bills defensive end AJ Epenesa was stopped for the bodyweight rule. On the field, the referee called it an “unnecessary second act” even though it was clear the defense was trying to rip the ball out of Aaron Rodgers' grasp and then off his back the second the game was over threw. The call revitalized the Jets' struggling offense and helped them score points down the field.

• With 4:47 left in the third quarter, Jets defensive back DJ Reed was cited for pass interference on a play where it appeared as if Mack Hollins simply rammed himself into the cornerback, which was generous would describe as a B-movie representation. The chaotic flailing at that moment was downright comical.

• At the 5:18 mark of the fourth quarter, Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw was cautioned for walking Josh Allen back to the ground in what we assumed was a replacement for the enormous bodyweight flag against Buffalo was. Later in the trip he was also ticketed for having an inappropriate conversation with an officer.

• At 3:43, Aaron Rodgers essentially held the ball over the shoulder of a Bills defender and it fell to the turf. On the field, the play was ruled a fumble. Things have been reversed with the replay assistant. Bills coach Sean McDermott seemed to question whether he could even challenge. It's safe to assume that Parry, who now works for the Bills, led to this decision. Since it was a repeat assistant, he couldn't do this.

• At the 2:52 mark of the fourth quarter, Rodgers fired a ball over the head of Garrett Wilson in the third and fourth quarters, with the receiver largely unhindered as he made a layup-like maneuver to fake his attempt at the ball catch. Bills defensive back Christian Benford, aside from a useless hand on the back of Wilson's jersey, didn't appear to redirect the wide receiver or change his route in any way. Benford was flagged for pass interference anyway, giving New York 10 yards and a new set of downs.

Those final two calls were essential in extending the Jets' final drive, which ended in a Rodgers interception anyway.

One or possibly two of these calls over the course of an NFL game are understandable. I wrote a few years ago that this game will become increasingly unplayable without giving these referees more time, more replay support, or more tools to address the inability to catch some of these infractions at warp speed. More than 20 of them, many of which occurred in the home stretch of a single prime-time game after it became clear that the team had lost the rhythm of the game and was on the verge of losing control of the players on the field, were inexcusable .

Rodgers himself said in his postgame interview that both pass interference calls, including the one that ended with a 260-pound human landing on him, were incorrect.

Though it's been repeated over and over again, the moment the league became a vehicle for sports betting was the moment these officials were examined, blacklight forensics lab-style, at every single game – and the more so they would be Such a crucial part of this conspiratorial narrative about the league's ability to influence the outcome of a game.

I don't think the NFL's job is to fix games, and neither should you, but the league should appear so incredibly buttoned-up, so ridiculously thorough, and so utterly secure in its own rulebook that the That Thinking cannot penetrate the mainstream and undermine the legitimacy of the product. What we saw on Monday was lack of confidence personified; Nervousness that creates a strange conservatism and then the need to balance everything.

With no office as a backdrop, Monday night was the league’s dream. Ridiculous, windswept kicks smashing into the posts. Rodgers throws a Hail Mary touchdown. The Jets fumbled before their owner, who was certain that firing Robert Saleh, the popular defensive line coach, would spark the offense. It was the perfect combination of pre-game narrative and engaging product. The total package. If the officials had stayed out of it, we might actually have remembered the game that way.