“This game is rigged!”

 Every sports fan has heard these words uttered by someone. They might even be the one to say it. The conspiracy theory that games are pre-determined has existed since the dawn of sports. Of course, that’s silly. The amount of coordination and cooperation needed would be insane. Still, I wouldn’t blame someone for thinking that. Sometimes it certainly feels that way, or at the very least maybe manipulated to get a certain result. That’s because of poor officiating, especially in the National Football League.

Yes, every sport has bad officiating. Yet no other sport has so few games like the NFL. If an umpire in Major League Baseball makes a bad call that leads to a team’s loss in June, it’s likely not going to matter when it comes to the playoffs. In the NFL, a loss can mean the difference between home field advantage or not even making the playoffs. And the calls are getting worse.

Pass interference, roughing the passer, and taunting are just three of these rules which are directly impacting games in major ways. Recently watching the Indianapolis Colts, they seem to have the pass interference as a play call. Numerous times during games their quarterback Carson Wentz will just throw a ball up for grabs and hope for a pass interference call, and usually it will work.

 After the 2018 NFC Championship game where a pass interference call wasn’t made that directly lead to the loss of the New Orleans Saints, the league decided to make the call reviewable going into the 2019 season. Now a coach could challenge if pass interference was or wasn’t made using one of their two challenges. Great, problem solved!

Not quite. No matter what the call was on the field, even if it was seemly plainly obvious, the call stood. It got to the point where it was a running joke that it would be a waste of a challenge to try and challenge a pass interference call. The experiment was a failure and the ability to challenge pass interference was removed following the season.

Roughing the passer is another rule where interpretation of the rule seems be unclear. To sum it up, roughing the passer is when a defender makes contact with the quarterback after he has thrown a forward pass. The defender cannot make contact the quarterback unless carried by momentum. That last part is up to interpretation though. The idea behind the rule is to protect quarterbacks from big hits and low hits. What happens though is that a defender will barely touch a quarterback and flags will fly. A classic example is the 2018 AFC Championship. At one point Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones barely touched New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady after he threw a pass and roughing was called. That took the Patriots from 3^rd and seven to a fresh set of downs late in the 4^th quarter. The Patriots would go to win that game in overtime and go to the Super Bowl. Roughing the passer calls have yet to be addressed.

Finally, there is taunting. Before the 2021 season the NFL competition committee, filled with owners and coaches, wanted to make taunting a point of emphasis for the season. It was always a rule before but hadn’t really been called.

“That’s something we discuss every year in the competition committee,” New York Giants owner John Mara said. “We get kind of sick and tired of the taunting that does go on from time to time on the field. We tried to balance the sportsmanship with allowing the players to have fun and there’s always a fine line there, but none of us like to see that.”

It’s hard to imagine this being what they wanted. During a Monday Night Football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears, former Steelers and now Bears linebacker Cassius Marsh stared down the Steelers sideline after a big 3^rd down stop. As he backed up it appeared referee Tony Corrente hip-checked Marsh, then seconds later Corrente throw a flag for taunting. This gave the Steelers a 1^st down and allowed them to continue the drive, where they would end up scoring a field goal. They later would go on to win the game. After the game Marsh was asked about the incident in his post-game press conference.

"On my way to the sideline, I got hip-checked by the ref and it's pretty clear. If I were to do that to a ref or even touch a ref, we'd get kicked out of the game and possibly suspended and fined. I just think that that was incredibly inappropriate."

So not only is emotion in the NFL seemly frowned upon, but the refs seemly can use this call whenever they want. They can do whatever they want to players and get away with it. Or at least that’s how it looks like to the causal observer.

It gets worse when you consider the fact that NFL partnered with four gambling companies prior to the 2021 season. If a rule can be used at a referee’s judgement, well what better way to max out your bet than to impact a game with a call here or there? Maybe those shouting rigged are on to something?

When you have games filled with multiple flags flying, game changing calls being made or not made based on the whim of a referee, or referees missing those calls, combined with a emphasis on taking away the emotion of the game, it makes the sport not fun to watch.

Whether you believe the NFL is rigged or not, the officiating must get better. It’s 2021, instant replay is available. Yes, it may slow down the game a little, but it should be important to get these crucial calls correct. Start up leagues like the 2020 XFL have shown that it’s possible to have emotion in football and proper officiating. No, it wasn’t perfect, mistakes will happen, referees are only human after all. But if the NFL wants to expand the game of American Football to the world, it starts with the officiating. Otherwise, those calling the game rigged are only going to get louder and louder.