NFL refs making offensive offside calls during crucial moments

Why are there so many penalties on offensive players showing up in the NFL as of late, and why do they all seemingly come at the most crucial times?

Last night, Jason Kelce’s false start effectively cost the Philadelphia Eagles the game against the Seattle Seahawks.

On Saturday, Denver Broncos offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz was offside on a fourth-and-goal play in the third quarter that negated a touchdown.

And let us not forget last week, when Kadarius Toney was offside and cost the Kansas City Chiefs the game against the Buffalo Bills.

“I think almost everybody has acknowledged that the officials are absolutely correct,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Dec 13. “That’s their job to call it a foul ... I think it shows you how difficult it is to do their job.”

Kelce said that he had been warned previously about moving the ball forward for years on multiple occasions, but still was able to get away with it.

Back in October, Pro Football Talk wrote:

“Kelce said that in the future, he plans to explain to the officials that he lines up with his non-snapping hand on the ground for the quarterback sneak because it helps him to get lower, and that they shouldn’t assume if they see an errant hand in the neutral zone that it’s a penalty.”

Last season, there were 284 offensive offside calls across the league. So far there are only 224 this season, but the trend of these calls the last few weeks could push that number up. These calls are rare, but it can’t be a coincidence that there are two within two weeks of each other, right?

Others think there should be rule changes, like Peyton Manning.

“I think they should change that rule,” Manning said to ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption after Toney’s offside call. “If they’re going to call that, just blow that play dead so we don’t see what would have happened.”