Costly Football Mistakes During Week 4

In the NFL there will always be a few mistakes on behalf of the players, coaches, owners, and even the refs, but when there are so many consecutive football errors that cost one team or another the victory over a bad call, it certainly stands out. During Week 4 there were more than several errors happen, from a player smacking a ball illegally out of bounds to refs making bad calls; even a player that makes a mockery of the League.

Lions at Seahawks

This is a game that a lot of fans are going to remember for years to come, and it isn’t that they will hate one team or the other based on what they did, but rather on the NFL and the refs that just didn’t do their job properly. During the game, Seahawks K.J. Wright had the opportunity to grab a fumbled ball in his end-zone, but decided to smack the ball out of bounds.

The rules clearly state that this is illegal to do, but Wright was never penalized by the back judge Greg Wilson because he “didn’t feel it was an overt act”. In the end, this Lions turnover cost them the game. Even the Lions owner, Martha Ford is outraged by the lack of enforcement of the rules.

Browns at Chargers

During a crucial time in the game, Browns cornerback Tramon Williams was penalized for being offside when the Chargers kicker Josh Lambo attempted a 39-yard field goal; which he missed. However, due to the penalty, the Chargers were given a second chance, and 5-yards closer, and Lambo was able to get the field goal. In the end, the Chargers beat the Browns 30-27 due to the refs call.

Now we know that the ref had actually made a mistake, as Williams states, “The coaches sent in the tape questioning it, because it was close and I thought I got a good jump. It was time to do or die at the end of the game. I had gathered all the information throughout the game, and I was like, ‘This is my time.’ And sure enough, I got a good jump on it. I just move so much faster than everybody else. I can see where the referees would miss that. . . . Guys make mistakes. At the end of the day you just hope that we can get judgment at the end of the game, maybe review or whatever it may be.”

This, just after the NFL recently instructed coaches not to disclose information about private communications with the league office regarding officiating errors. So, we will have to wait and see if the Browns are penalized for disclosing this mistake.

Cowboys Greg Hardy And His Big Mouth

This mistake comes directly from the mouth of recently re-instated Cowboys defensive end, Greg Hardy. During his first news conference after getting back he decided to talk about how he planned to come out “guns blazing” and discussed the relative hotness of Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen, and her sister. Totally inappropriate behavior, especially as the NFL is trying to change the way it is portrayed.

It isn’t always the refs fault, but this week we surely saw a lot of errors during the football games, which ended up costing a team their chance at victory.