A third-quarter flag at Ford Field had the FOX broadcast booth questioning the officials on Sunday. Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt both disagreed with a call that went against the Green Bay Packers in their game with the Detroit Lions, which didn’t look like it was needed.
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“That’s a tough one,” Burkhardt said.
“It’s almost like he’s just trying to keep himself up,” rules analyst Dean Blandino said. “There’s no real extension. I don’t like that as well.”
“I don’t like it either,” Brady replied.
The third-quarter penalty came on 3rd-and-10 near midfield, with the Packers trailing 17-14. Green Bay defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. was flagged for roughing the passer on Lions quarterback Jared Goff, a 15-yard penalty that handed Detroit a fresh set of downs after the Packers had stopped them.
Head coach Matt LaFleur and Cox were both visibly unhappy after the flag was called. LaFleur also raised his hands in frustration, to insinuate that the call was unnecessary.
Larry Brown Sports described the play as Cox getting tangled with Lions center Cade Mays before falling into Goff, who had already released the ball.
The booth was not alone. ESPN analyst Marcus Spears called it a “weak” roughing call, and former Packers quarterback Kurt Benkert wrote on X:
“Refs should NEVER change the outcome of a game. Replace them with robots at this point. Idc.”
Green Bay had taken a 14-10 lead earlier in the quarter on a 25-yard Josh Jacobs touchdown catch, and Detroit answered with a 10-yard Jameson Williams touchdown to go back ahead. However, this drive did not result in anything beneficial for the Lions, as it was a turnover on downs after Goff threw an incompletion on 4th-and-5 at Green Bay’s 6.
That was also not the only flag that Brady disagreed with. There was a fourth-quarter roughing the passer penalty on Green Bay, which was bizarre to the former quarterback. He said, “No, my goodness. What is that?! There’s no way!… That’s definitely not roughing the passer!”
There was also an unnecessary roughness penalty called in the same quarter, and both Brady and Burkhardt agreed this was odd. On a replay of the moment, Brady said the move was allowed “99 out of a 100 [times].”
The flag was not the only thing that hurt Green Bay. Kicker Trey Smack missed a 26-yard field goal on the opening drive, then had a 35-yard attempt blocked with the game already tied at 17.
The game stayed tight until the end. The Lions beat the Packers 20-17 when Jake Bates kicked a 22-yard field goal with one second left. That moved Detroit to 4-2, and Green Bay fell to 4-3, ending a three-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, Packers fans are left with an uncomfortable question. With the game decided by three points, how different would Sunday look if Cox’s flag never came out?