Something needs to change.
The Cincinnati Bengals lost by one point on Thursday Night Football on the road against the Baltimore Ravens and have fallen to 4-6. At the very end of the game, Joe Burrow and the offense scored and opted to go for two instead of opting for overtime.
The pass, intended for Tanner Hudson, fell incomplete, ending the game, but shortly after the ball left his hand, he took a blow right to the facemask. A flag should have been thrown, giving the Bengals a second chance, but that didn’t happen. The game was over.
After the game, head coach Zac Taylor was asked about the lack of roughing penalties on Burrow despite taking several late hits. He admitted, according to Mike Pertraglia, that he needs to work harder to make sure his quarterback is better protected.
“I got to fight harder for Joe to get some of that, because he doesn’t want to do it,” he said after the game. “He doesn’t want to disrupt from his flow of the game. That’s just things I have to talk to him about. You know they call it like they see it and I respect that. I just have to keep fighting for that stuff, because you don’t want to lose him on a play that’s well after the play’s over.”
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio thinks the responsibility lies with the quarterback. He believes Burrow needs to take a more active approach when it comes to getting calls, similar to what Tom Brady used to do.
“It came to a head last night when he was clearly struck forcibly in the head on the fateful two-point conversion attempt,” he wrote. “Burrow didn’t say boo about it. He never does. And that might be why he doesn’t get calls.
“Remember when referee Ed Hochuli supposedly told Cam Newton he’s not old enough to get certain calls? It’s not just age. It’s a willingness to engage, angrily if need be, with those who ultimately decide whether to remove a yellow flag and drop it.”
It’s a shame the Bengals put themselves in a position last night, especially after the fast start they got off to, that one blown call decided the outcome of the game. In reality, that’s not on the referees. It’s on the Bengals.
Referees are human and humans aren’t perfect. There are always going to be blown calls, and until they make certain calls reviewable or use AI to help call penalties, the best we can hope for is Taylor or Burrow getting more vocal with referees.
