The New England Patriots' offense needs all the help it can get this season -- and the officials obliged them in their Week 9 matchup with the Washington Commanders.
Commanders defensive end KJ Henry appeared to sack Patriots quarterback Mac Jones for a 9-yard loss on a third-and-10 early in the third quarter to push New England out of field goal range. The referees inexplicably flagged Henry for a roughing the passer penalty, however, giving the Patriots 15 free yards and an automatic first down.
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Henry's tackle looked like a textbook sack, and Commanders head coach Ron Rivera was understandably miffed by what looked like a pretty egregious call.
In fact, the call was so bad that even an ex-Patriots player couldn't side with his team. Former safety Devin McCourty admitted as much on social media, slyly noting that it's "hard to play defense in the NFL" after NBC colleague Matthew Berry noted that he and McCourty thought it was a "terrible call."
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That's a relatively diplomatic answer from McCourty, and other NFL analysts with no Patriots allegiances -- such as ESPN's Booger McFarland and Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer -- were much more forceful in their critiques of the call.
The Patriots kicked a field goal four plays later, essentially gaining three points off the blown call. FOX Sports rules analyst Dean Blandino attempted to explain what led the officials to make the call, but agreed there wasn't enough there to warrant a flag.
"This is what the officials are being directed to call," Blandino said on the broadcast. "They want the defender to get off to the side. But like you guys were saying, this is just a tackle. This is just momentum, there's nothing punishing, there's no second act. I don't like it as a foul, but this is what the league is directing the officials to call."
We'd imagine this call might be a point of discussion with the officiating crew after Week 9.