Troy Aikman Rips NFL for Being a Bad Product During Ugly Bengals-Broncos Game

Andy Nesbitt | Sep 30, 2025

The refs were extremely busy in Monday night's Bengals-Broncos game. / @ESPN

The Broncos were able to roll over the Bengals, 28-3, on Monday night to improve to 2-2 on the season. While it was a good win for Denver, it was a rough game for people watching at home as the refs were extremely busy throwing flags all night long.

It got so bad that Troy Aikman, who was calling the game with Joe Buck, ripped the refs and the league at one point by saying: "The product's just not very good. I'm gonna be honest...I mean, this is ridiculous."

Midway through the third quarter, a Broncos offensive lineman was called for a blindside block that was a good call in theory but it happened when the play was all but over. A frustrated Aikman had a sarcastic chuckle before saying: "I'm not gonna keep my mouth shut. That's a good call. Just not a necessary call."

Aikman then added: "Nothing brings a broadcast to a screeching halt more than these yellow flags."

Buck quickly backed up his broadcast partner, saying: "I couldn't agree more."

Here's how that all played out:

"I'm not gonna keep my mouth shut. That's a good call. Just not a necessary call."

"Nothing brings a broadcast to a screeching halt more than these yellow flags."

"The product's just not very good. I'm gonna be honest...I mean, this is ridiculous."

- Troy Aikman pic.twitter.com/8pErfB34T2

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 30, 2025

At that point there were 22 penalties called in the game, which is a lot considering there was still over seven minutes left in the third quarter.

Aikman and Buck were right—that many flags makes a NFL game very hard to watch.

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