If there’s one thing all NFL fans can agree on, it’s that officiating has been exceptionally poor this season.
It seems like every single game provides multiple examples of this either from inconsistent enforcement, blowing calls altogether, or taking far too long on replay reviews, and no team is exempt from dealing with it.
During Monday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants, Monday Night Football commentator Troy Aikman spoke out against the referees. Giants wide receiver Lawrence Cager attempted to field a kickoff going out of bounds for some reason, and the officials took a long time to sort everything out, setting Aikman off.
Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina posted the clip of Aikman on his X account.
This is why Troy Aikman is the best analyst in the NFL. Not one other analyst would have the balls to destroy the refs like this. Not one. pic.twitter.com/ieXjtzRlQR
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) December 12, 2023
“The problem with all this is just make a call. You know? I mean there’s 13 seconds in the half,” Aikman said. “They’re not gonna, you know, just make a decision. And this is what stops all these games and the officials, I know they’ve been… they’ve been talked about every week. But this is ridiculous what we’re watching right now.”
It’s hard to argue with the point. Across sports, we’ve seen an uptick in replay reviews and other reviews cutting into a substantial chunk of the actual game. Eventually, the NFL may have to address its officiating issues.
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