Were the refs too harsh in Bills-Jets MNF matchup?

By Trevor Speetzen October 16, 2024 09:10 GMT+4 min read

Photo by IMAGN

The Buffalo Bills defeated the New York Jets 23-20 on Monday Night Football in an exciting game. However, the matchup was overshadowed by the 22 accepted penalties between the two teams.

With this win, the Bills improved to 4-2 on the season, but had 11 accepted penalties for 94 yards. The Jets fell to 2-4 and had 11 accepted penalties as well, but for 110 yards.

The two teams combined for a total of 204 penalty yards. The 22 accepted penalties is tied for the most penalties called in a game this season. Fans immediately criticized the referees for the excessive penalties and ruining the flow of the game.

Not only the fans, but football experts and former players were criticizing refs for throwing flags every one or two plays.

“These refs are biased tonight,” tweeted by Richard Sherman, former player and current analyst. “I don’t use that lightly but it’s apparent. These aren’t my teams but these calls don’t make sense. I see similar contact from Buffalo DBs and nothing being called.”

Sherman made sure his opinion was heard on monday night, but he wasn’t the only one calling out the refs for their seemingly endless penalties.

In his post-game press conference, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers shared his thoughts about the penalties that occurred in the game.

“It seemed a little ridiculous,” Rodgers said in his press conference. “Some of [the calls] seemed really bad, including the roughing the passer on me. That’s not roughing the passer.”

If the quarterback believes that the roughing the passer penalty, which benefited his team, was a bad penalty then it’s definitely possible that the referees were a little excessive with their calls during the game.

Rodgers continued to elaborate on the poor officiating by comparing the matchup to Sarcastaball, a fictional game from the show ‘South Park’ which parodies football becoming too soft.

“You might as well play Sarcastaball if we’re going to call those things.” Rodgers said in his press conference. “And I thought the one on [Javon] Kinlaw wasn’t roughing the passer, either.”

While it’s easier to blame the refs because of plays being called back and the constant interruption of the game. However, some of these calls were blatant penalties.

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current ESPN color commentator Troy Aikman called out the poor quality of the game during his commentary.

“It’s like a preseason game,” Aikman said in the booth.

Aikman went on to state that not all of the blame should go to the refs, but the two teams should also be held accountable for allowing themselves to commit an absurd amount of penalties.

“I guess they gotta throw the flag, don't they?” Aikman said in the booth. “It’s easy to get upset with the officials. But those were penalties.”

While the teams were committing flagrant penalties at some point, Aikman seems to be in the minority regarding his opinion. Fans and experts alike feel that the officials seemed like they were a bit too flag-happy during Monday Night Football.