Despite having an unexpected tremendously successful season, the Detroit Lions will miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year. Though this is due to the team’s poor play through the first seven games of the season, part of the blame can be placed on the officiating in a game the Lions were not even a part of. In order to achieve a playoff berth, the team needed the Los Angeles Rams to defeat the Seattle Seahawks, and subsequently beat the Green Bay Packers themselves. Even though, the Lions were able to beat the Packers Sunday Night, the Rams could not beat the Seahawks (and the refs) earlier that afternoon. It is quite evident that if the Rams-Seahawks game had more accurate officiating, the Lions may be preparing for a playoff game this coming weekend. In my estimation, several infractions were missed or called incorrectly, and were pivotal to the final outcome of the game. To eliminate such fiascos from occurring in the future, the replay system must be expanded greatly, thus this would minimize the effect of human error on game results.
To avoid such a predicament of having to rely on other teams’ performances to determine whether they make the playoffs in the future, it is imperative that the Lions play more consistently at the beginning of the season. Needless to say, if this happened this year, the Lions could have held their destiny in their own hands. But the fact is, at the start of the season, defense was non-existent, and the offense struggled as well. Not many games can be won when you struggle on both sides of the ball. Though the team corrected many of the issues experienced earlier in the year, it turned out it was to little, to late to make a playoff appearance.
Because the Lions were required to allow their playoff chances to be dictated by the performance of other teams due to their early season woes, they also had to hope the officiating was competent enough to ensure the most accurate result was achieved in the game that determined their future. Unfortunately, for the Lions and their fans, this task would prove to be difficult to achieve, since officials managed to rule on 4 major infractions incorrectly. As a result, the outcome of the game may have been impacted. One of the the first calls that may have done this occurred when the Rams were called for running into the Seahawks kicker on a punt attempt. Therefore, the Seahawks were awarded a first down, and kept possession of the ball, leading to a field goal, which tied the game. To add insult to injury, Quandre Diggs should have been called for taunting for pointing at the Rams bench with the football after intercepting a pass, which would have inhibited their offensive progress on the ensuing drive. On another Seahawks possession, Jalen Ramsey was called for unnecessary roughness on Geno Smith, inevitably extending the Seahawks offensive opportunity. It is quite obvious that every pivotal call in this game seemed to benefit the Seattle Seahawks, meaning the outcome of this game may have been unfairly determined. As a result, the Lions playoff destiny may indeed be unjustified.
To minimize the impact of human error on game results, the time has come to implement changes to the replay system in the NFL. Since the goal of the league is to get every call correct, major modifications are in order. For starters, every play should be subject to review, either by coaches’ challenge or booth review. In addition, booth reviews, and challenges should be unlimited. Yes, calls will still be missed by coaches, referees, and the review booth, but the instances of error would be further reduced. All parties should applaud these changes in order to achieve the stated goal of officiating games as accurately as possible.
If the Lions would have had the good fortune of improved play, better officiating in certain games, and improved replay policies, we may be discussing a playoff appearance at this moment. Hopefully, all of these facets will converge in the future to help this team achieve the highest possible goal of a Super Bowl Championship. Though a team must overcome adversity to win championships, unnecessary adversity can be created by unneeded and avoidable human error. It is undeniable that changes to the review and challenge system are needed, and if changes are implemented, it will go a long way in ensuring integrity and fairness are maintained in the game.
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