A football seen on the sideline before an NFL preseason football game at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. Credit: Akron Beacon Journal

Fans have always had a love-hate relationship with NFL referees, but the quality of refs seems to be at its lowest ever.

Now it appears the NFL is deciding to admit when its referees aren’t doing their jobs correcting, albeit not until it’s too late to help anyone.

According to one prominent Pittsburgh Steelers-related account on Twitter, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin admitted as much in his Tuesday press conference.

“Tomlin said the league office told him Minkah’s blocked extra point was legal. He said he already knew that in-stadium,” Blitzburgh tweeted on Tuesday, referring to a play in which the Steelers blocked a New York Jets extra point attempt, but the play was overturned because of a penalty.

Fans reacted to the update online.

This proves the (NFL) only uses replay assist and New York to step in when they want and doesn’t use it consistently,” one fan said on Twitter.

“The Steelers have been the target of the league ever since Dan Rooney backed Trump and became the Ambassador to Ireland.. Refs are not consistently “bad” against any other team,” one fan added.

“And so then where was relay assist / New York at when needed?” one fan wanted to know.

“This seems to be a weekly occurrence. What’s the point of replay if you don’t review critical plays that change the outcome of games. Holding occurs on every play. It’s whether the call it or choose to call it,” a fan added.

“What does it matter at this point.. it should’ve been corrected as soon as the flag was thrown.. but no… god forbid refs are actually held accountable,” one fan said.

“It’s always on plays that directly correlate to points too,” one fan noted.

It’s remarkable the NFL isn’t doing more to make the games fair, and clear that something needs to change immediately.

[Blitzburgh]

About Qwame Skinner

Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. At Next Impulse, Qwame covers sports with the same enthusiasm he brings to his recreational basketball and softball leagues.