Okay, so I wanted to figure out what was going on with the referees in Detroit Lions games lately. It feels like every week, there’s something, right?
My Process Watching the Game
So, I sat down last Sunday, game day. Got my snacks ready, settled in. The Lions were playing, and I was trying, really trying, to just enjoy the football. But you know how it is. A flag gets thrown. Then another. And pretty soon, I wasn’t just watching the players; I was watching the guys in stripes like a hawk.
There was this one play, I think it was in the third quarter. Looked like a clear hold on our guy, right in front of the ref. No flag. I jumped up, yelled at the TV a bit. My wife told me to calm down, but it gets you worked up. A few plays later, a really ticky-tack call goes against us. Felt completely different. So inconsistent, you know?
Digging into It
After the game, I was still stewing about it. I thought, okay, maybe I’m just being a biased fan. Let me actually look into this referee stuff. So, I grabbed my tablet. First, I just started searching for stuff like “Detroit Lions referee calls” or “NFL referee assignments Lions games”.
It wasn’t super straightforward. You get a lot of news articles, fan forums, people complaining just like me. Finding actual, solid info on why certain refs seem to be around our games or detailed breakdowns of their call history specifically for the Lions… well, that was harder than I thought.
- Tried finding the referee crew chief’s name for that specific game.
- Looked for stats on penalties called for and against the Lions by different crews.
- Searched for explanations of that specific controversial rule they called.
Honestly, it felt like wading through mud. Lots of opinions, not a ton of easy-to-find, objective data presented simply. I found the official NFL rulebook, tried skimming the section related to the penalty I was mad about. Man, that thing is dense. It didn’t really make me feel any better about the call.
What I Ended Up With
So, what did I achieve? Well, I spent about an hour looking this stuff up. Did I find a secret conspiracy against the Lions? Nope. Did I become an expert on NFL officiating? Definitely not.
But I did go through the process. I looked for the info. I read the rule, even if it was confusing. I saw what other people were saying. It kind of confirmed that, yeah, officiating is tough, and yeah, sometimes it really feels like the calls go against your team, especially when you’re emotionally invested like I am with the Lions.
At the end of the day, I guess I just documented my own frustration and attempt to understand it better. Didn’t really change the outcome or how I felt about those calls, but I went through the motions of trying to figure it out beyond just yelling at the screen. Still gonna watch next week, still probably gonna get mad at the refs. It’s the life of a fan, I suppose.
