Referee Brad Allen, who muffed vital call in Lions-Cowboys, will call national game in Week 18
Fans’ outcries during referee Brad Allen’s game-changing blunder call during the Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys game in Week 17 have been heard by the NFL. The NFL is doing what it does best in reaction, which is giving its supporters more of what they don’t want.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Allen and his team will officiate the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens game on Saturday, which will be broadcast on ESPN. Allen is getting assigned to a national TV show just one week after an officiating fiasco that probably lost the Lions a victory.
The play that Allen muffed happened in the final minute of Lions-Cowboy
s in Week 17. The Lions, down 20-19, initially appeared to get a 2-point conversion to put them ahead 21-20. But it got called back when the refs flagged Taylor Decker as an ineligible receiver and Dan Skipper for an illegal formation.
Decker says he reported as eligible to Allen, while Skipper says he didn’t speak to Allen at all. In his extensive breakdown of the play, Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson noted that video evidence supports Decker’s explanation, meaning that Allen blew the call. But in his explanation of the penalties, Allen denied that and essentially accused the Lions of lying. This is the first Allen and his crew has been involved in officiating controversy this season.
Schefter reported Sunday that Allen and his crew were being “downgraded” for the playoffs due to the recent mistakes. Which is why it’s interesting that Allen and company are being given a national assignment just one week after such a consequential misstep. It feels inevitable at this point that these referees will impact the Steelers-Ravens game somehow, and with Pittsburgh fighting for a playoff spot, everyone should buckle up.
Referee Brad Allen couldn’t get more famous unless he started bench-pressing Buicks and wearing really tight shirts.
Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, who has cornered the Brad Allen beat of late (i.e., someone who doesn’t like Brad Allen has been spoon-feeding Schefty), reports that Allen’s crew has been assigned Saturday’s nationally-televised game between the Steelers and Ravens.
We’ve questioned the league about the process and timing of these assignments. All eighteen weeks should ideally be decided upon prior to the season commencing. Travel arrangements would then be more certain and efficient.
Furthermore, there has only ever been a problem with performance in relation to postseason assignments. Theoretically, an official and the crew they work with should be eligible for every regular-season game, regardless of how important the game is or when it is played, unless they are so awful as to be fired during the season.
Allen has acquired specific notoriety through Saturday night’s two-point conversion snafu, given the perception that he made a mistake when approached by three different Lions linemen as part of an effort to confuse the Cowboys as to which one was eligible to catch a pass. The crew also whiffed on a key tripping foul, calling it on the Cowboys and not the Lions.
Prior to this, the Allen crew failed to call several crucial interference penalties, most famously the Packers’ flagrant interference against the Chiefs on the last drive of a Sunday night game.
Although it’s very doubtful that Allen will officiate a playoff game this year, his position as a referee theoretically entitles him to officiate any regular-season game. He might have been assigned to the Steelers-Ravens game before it was set for a stand-alone window.
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