NFL Fans Sound off After Officials Miss Pass Interference Call in Giants vs. Patriots Game

NFL fans are still wondering why the league made pass interference and non-pass interference calls reviewable but won’t be overturned. On Thursday night, the New York Giants took on the New England Patriots and officials missed a pass interference call on Patriots defensive back Jonathan Jones when going up against Giants wide receiver Golden Tate. Late in the fourth quarter, Jones held Tate before he had a chance to catch the ball. Giants head coach Pat Shurmur challenged the play and the call stood on the field.

After the game, Shurmur was not shocked the call wasn’t overturned. “We see that replay doesn’t overturn much, so I’m not surprised,” he said via Yahoo Sports.

This all started after the NFC Championship game last year when New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton lobbied to get the rule in place because he believed a missed pass interference call cost his team a trip to the Super Bowl. Now, it seems like the rule has made things worse.

Scroll down to see fans reacting to the latest missed pass interference call.

The Play

Yahoo Sports writer, Charles Robinson shared the play and it’s clear Jones got to Tate well before the ball got into the area. In the caption, Robinson shared how NFL officials had 100-percent gone rogue,” sharing that “this wasn’t called on the field and then wasn’t changed after it was flagged by the Giants. So they ruled TWICE that this wasn’t defensive pass interference. Which is just blatantly wrong and a purposeful refusal to change the call.”

Why Have It?

NFL reporter Peter Bukowski simply asked “why even have the review,” when he watched the play. It’s clear officials won’t overturn challenges on pass interference, so coaches might as well hold on to the flag and save the timeout. However, this rule will be a topic of discussion once the season comes to an end. 

Ridiculous

This fan couldn’t believe the play was not overturned. The Twitter user said, “To miss an obvious DPI on the field like this is bad enough..to double down on a terrible call after seeing the obvious infraction in slow motion is ridiculous.”

Explantion of the Rule

Sam Farmer of the LA Times has a new explanation of the rule, writing: “The rule requires you to actually lock both of the handcuffs before the receiver hits the ground.” It looks like it will come to that sooner than later. 

Conspiracy

This fan thinks the NFL is telling officials not to reverse pass interference calls, sharing how they “believe they’re being told not to reverse these calls. The NFL is afraid of turning PI reviews into the catch ones. The problem is that it then leads to huge inconsistencies in penalties. This is why we should get rid of reviews but it’s a different story.”

The Patriot Way

Getting away with pass interference is something the Patriots do according to this fan. He said, “There is a hold and pass interference on the play. Which the Patriots have gotten away with for years. Gilmore used to be a flag machine when he played for Buffalo, now he never gets called. That’s my evidence.”

Live vs. Replay

This fan may have just figured it out. The Twitter user said, “So a play that should’ve been called pass interference live is not pass interference on replay. Got it.” Sounds like the NFL has a big problem on its hands but its something they can easily fix.

 

Blame Al Riveron

This fan is blaming Al Riveron who is the Senior Vice President of Officiating. He said, “This is purposeful refusal of @NFLOfficiating to overturn any PI calls or non-calls. Al Riveron is blatantly protesting the implementation of PI reviews. He’s making it so we want to get rid of it next year. That..or he is a complete moron.”