The fans are pissed, the coaches are pissed, and the players are pissed.
On Monday night, the Detroit Lions lost to the Green Bay Packers because NFL officials are incompetent and that incompetence led to multiple penalties against the Lions that should not have been called.
http://gty.im/1170796288
One of those bad calls was against Lions safety Tracy Walker, who was called for unnecessary roughness when he hit Packers receiver Geronimo Allison on the first play of the third quarter. The hit was big but Walker was clearly going for the football, there was nothing else he could do as a defender other than just let Allison catch the ball.
Following the game, Walker did not mince words when talking about the officials and how they cost his team a win.
From ESPN:
“Awful. It was an awful call,” Walker said. “I felt like I went for the ball and [it] just so happened we collided, but I was looking for the ball. It was an awful call by them. It is what it is, though.”
Walker said he wasn't trying to make contact with Allison and was vying to intercept Aaron Rodgers' pass. They collided, but he said he was “attacking the ball.” When asked if the defensive back has the right to go for the ball in that case, referee Clete Blakeman explained what he saw in a postgame pool report.
“That's a good question, but the reality is, it is strict liability for a defensive player,” Blakeman said. “In this case, he may be going for the ball and not intending to hit the helmet, but when there's helmet contact, it is a foul in that situation.”
Blakeman said even if Walker had intercepted the pass, he still would have been flagged.
Walker used the word “awful” five times to describe some of the penalty calls against the Lions on Monday night.
“Extremely pissed off right now,” Walker said. “It is what it is. Disappointed. Hurt. We had that game. I'm going to say the same s—. We should have won it. It is what it is, though. Got to bounce back.”
When asked who he was angry at, Walker blamed, well, everything.
“Honestly, just the whole game in itself, the end result,” Walker said. “I felt like we could have had a better game and we were supposed to come out victorious with that game, you know, but Green Bay came to play.
“There were some awful, awful calls. But we got to play through them and overcome those.”
When told he might get fined for his comments, Walker said, “Whatever. It don't even matter. It is what it is.”
