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In an ideal world, the names of the officials calling Sunday’s NFC and AFC championship games wouldn’t matter. But this is sports, where human error comes into play. That applies to the officials carrying whistles in addition to the players and coaches in the arena. If history — recent and otherwise — is any indication, officials will make some headlines of their own this weekend.
Let’s take a look at the officiating crews calling this weekend’s championship games in Santa Clara and Baltimore and how they’ve impacted games in the past.
Will there be more drama involving Clete Blakeman and the Lions on Sunday? (Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Clete Blakeman brings up bad memories for Lions
Up first, referee Clete Blakeman’s crew is calling the NFC championship game between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers. This fact already has Lions fans irked. And this is a fan base already burned by the biggest officiating controversy of the regular season.
The Lions and Blakeman have history. Blakeman oversaw the crew in an infamous 2019 game against the rival Packers that saw multiple controversial calls trigger a rally for a Green Bay win.
Detroit led that Monday night game, 22-13, in the fourth quarter. With Green Bay driving, the Lions sacked Aaron Rodgers to set up fourth-and-21 and an obvious punt situation. But umpire Jeff Rice flagged Trey Flowers for an illegal hands to the face penalty that gave the Packers a first down. Green Bay went on to score a touchdown on the drive to cut its deficit to 22-20.
Replay shows that Flowers had a hold of David Bakhtiari’s shoulder pad on the play, not his neck or facemask as is required for the penalty. His hand did slip up to touch the base of Bakhtiari’s helmet at the last moment.
On the ensuing Lions drive, officials missed an obvious pass interference penalty that would have set the Lions up in scoring position.
The Lions didn’t score again, and the Packers went on to kick a game-winning field goal as time…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-officiating-referee-clete-blakeman-has-dicey-history-with-lions-afc-crew-could-mean-bad-news-for-ravens-031939079.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-01-24 03:19:39
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