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It’s Almost 2026 and NFL Refs Remain Inconsistent with Late Sideline Hits on Quarterbacks
By Nick Piccone
Published:
If you watch football, you know how ridiculously inconsistent referees are from game to game. Even though certain calls are supposed to be objective, it feels like crews make subjective calls quite often. It’s gotten so bad that conspiracy theories about sports gambling have been thrown around a lot the last few years, and I’m honestly not surprised. There are some calls, or no calls, that are very questionable at times.
Take Sunday’s Eagles/Bills game, for instance. Jalen Hurts escaped three Bills defenders and scrambled for a few yards before clearly heading out of bounds. That didn’t stop cornerback Cam Lewis from initiating a hit that I think everyone in the moment thought would bring a flag:
But the flag never came. At the very least, I could buy throwing the flag, having an officials’ meeting, then determining the hit wasn’t late (which it was). I could at least buy that, because we’ve seen that happen before on similar plays. It doesn’t make it any less egregious, but it would give us some evidence that the refs are looking at Hurts the same way they look at other QBs. I don’t think there’s a doubt Josh Allen would’ve gotten that call, and we all know Patrick Mahomes might’ve gotten every ref to throw the flag there.*
It wasn’t even like Hurts was trying to deke the defender the way Mahomes has famously done in the past, or try to launch his head at the defender the way Jaxson Dart did earlier in the season (which also somehow wasn’t a penalty) –
The funny part about this is Dart was never called dirty for launching himself with a lowered helmet, whereas defenders are called dirty all the time. Is that why the refs didn’t throw the flag for the late hit on Hurts? I don’t know, but it clearly wasn’t even close to a similar play. Oftentimes, the player getting hit not being totally out of bounds doesn’t actually matter. For years, we heard how hard it is for defenders to let up split seconds before initiating contact, but yet, we see play after play of them doing just that. It’s pretty clear the Bills defender saw Hurts trending out of bounds, but he still went for the hit, even stepping out of bounds himself before delivering it. Flag.
It’s tiring seeing so many plays that should objectively be called all across the league continue to be called subjectively.
*Kinkead: I think it’s telling that Cam Lewis is gesticulating, but the other three Buffalo players aren’t, as if they were expecting the flag
Nick Piccone has covered Philly sports and events for over 14 years with various outlets, including PhillyVoice and Philly Influencer. In 2015, he co-launched the Straight Shooters Wrestling Podcast. He's also a producer for Fox Sports Radio Philadelphia and the Villanova Sports Radio Network. He grew up in South Philadelphia and South Jersey, and is a graduate of Neumann University. Contact: picconenick@gmail.com