'Ridiculous! Just Make The Call!' Dallas Cowboys Icon Troy Aikman Frustrated With NFL Referees
With 13 seconds left on the clock before halftime this week on "Monday Night Football.'' Lawrence Cager of the New York Giants made contact with the football on the Green Bay Packers' kickoff before the ball rolled out of bounds. Eventually, the officials placed the ball on the Giants's own 11-yard line, but that took place after an unusually long review time.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and now "MNF'' broadcaster Troy Aikman explained his frustration with the officiating crew on Monday.
"Just make the call," Aikman exclaimed on ESPN. "There’s 13 seconds left in the half. Just make a decision ...
"This is what stops all of these games. The officials ... I know they’ve been talked about every week, but this is ridiculous what we’re watching right now."
Troy Aikman
After quite a few minutes, the referees supported the fact the the football did in fact touch Cager's leg and there was no flag on the play.
But yes ... it was "quite a few minutes.''
NFL officiating has been under heavy criticism for not only their wait time on calls, but for missing seemingly obvious penalties, tossing an abnormal number of flags or just the lack of uniformity with their calls in general.
After the Cowboys' recent "Sunday Night Football'' win over the Eagles, Dallas star Micah Parsons - a frequent critic of the refs - called their work "comical,'' and later, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones agreed, terming it "unbelievable.''
Many fans and "Monday Night Football'' viewers were shocked at Aikman's decision to directly call out Land Clark's officiating crew for it work. While shocked, however, many were pleased and applauded Aikman.
"This is why Troy Aikman is the best analyst in the NFL," SI's Jimmy Traina wrote on Twitter "Not one other analyst would have the (bleep) to destroy the refs like this. Not one."
