Refs Kept Missing Same Obvious Penalty On Eagles’ Lane Johnson And Fans Were Furious

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We have more referee controversy in the NFL.

Earlier this season, refs kept missing the same obvious penalty on Chiefs offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor lining up incorrectly and getting a headstart vs. the defense during a game against the Lions.

The NFL eventually decided to crack down on Taylor and issued a memo to officials highlighting illegal formation infractions.

Via Sports Illustrated

Dean Blandino, NFL football rules analyst for Fox Sports and former NFL vice president of officiating, told Sports Illustrated the league sent out its weekly training tape to its 32 clubs and officials, highlighting repeated illegal formation violations from various Week 1 action.

“On the tape this week at the very end, there are several examples of—and a couple from the Thursday night game with Jawaan Taylor—of tackles who are too far back. … That was emphasized on the training tape going into Week 2,” Blandino said. “I would expect, just from my experience, officials watch that training tape. It’s usually a very good learning tool, and it’s good for giving your officials direction. I would expect we will not see the egregious examples we may have seen in Week 1.”

It appears that refs are still having issues despite getting a memo from the league earlier this year.

On Monday night, Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson was able to get away with getting a headstart on the defense several times, and the refs somehow kept missing it.

Fans were not happy with the refs allowing Johnson to keep getting away with the same penalty.

It’ll be interesting to see if the NFL looks into Johnson like they did with Taylor.