NFL referees have found a new way to make themselves the butt of football fans’ jokes. During Sunday night’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders, the refs used a notecard to determine a first down.
The referees put a piece of paper between the ball and the first down marker. Thankfully for the Cowboys, the referees ruled it a first down. However, that doesn’t make too much sense because if the paper could fit inbetween the ball and the marker, wouldn’t that mean the ball is short? This was a question plenty of Raiders fans were trying to figure out.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Meanwhile … help me out: if the index card fit between the chain and the ball, wouldn’t that mean it wasn’t a first down?
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) December 18, 2017
I still don’t see how that was a first down. The paper fits in between the ball and the stick. #raiders focus now turns to Christian Wilkins.
— Complementary Football (@holistic_pickle) December 18, 2017
The ball is short of the marker. First down Cowboys.
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) December 18, 2017
Everyone else watching was just dumbfounded. Here’s a league that’s worth billions of dollars and has the most high-tech cameras in the world filming games… and a head referee is using a piece of paper to figure out if a team got the yards they needed.
Index cards are now the standard for measuring a first down?? #snf
— john telich (@JohnTelich8) December 18, 2017
In the span of one week the NFL signed a $500 million contract with Verizon to stream every single football game on millions of mobile devices AND measured a first down with a piece of paper. pic.twitter.com/pwSB9sLifC
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) December 18, 2017
Billions of dollars in the NFL and we’re using a piece of paper folded in half to measure a first down.
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) December 18, 2017
How is this a first down?
ENHANCE. pic.twitter.com/ynAy7LBE6C
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) December 18, 2017
Of course, like all great things, the index card needed its own Twitter page.
Finally my life has meaning https://t.co/4ceDBABwe8
— SNF Index Card (@SNFPieceofPaper) December 18, 2017
The game ended with the Raiders losing, 20-17, ending their playoff hopes. The Cowboys are now 8-6.
Most Viewed
-
Pictured (L-R): Roxy Sternberg as Special Agent Sheryll Barnes, Shantel VanSanten as Special Agent Nina Chase, Dylan McDermott as Supervisory Special Agent Remy Scott, Edwin Hodge as Special Agent Ray Cannon, Keisha Castle-Hughes as Special Agent Hana Gibson, and Susan Misner as Abby Deaver. Photo: Mark Schafer/CBS -
(Photo by Randy Holmes/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) DAN AYKROYD, ERNIE HUDSON, ANNIE POTTS, BILL MURRAY -
Disney/Stewart Cook
