Mistakes from umpires, referees, and officials happen all the time. That’s the human error risk every athlete takes when competing in sports. It’s better than having robots mediate sports right? Well, I guess unless you’re Angel Hernandez. Having an NFL owner share on his personal X account discussions he’s had with league officials about wrong calls is something new, however, as Colts headman Jim Irsay did this week. It might be sour grapes, but it definitely is unconventional.
Irsay also buried the lede in the above tweet. Yay, Anthony Richardson had successful surgery. Mazel Tov. We expected Indianapolis to place its franchise quarterback in the hands of someone where that wasn’t a certainty. Phew! The second bullet point, or football emoji point, comes from an owner defending his team to the people who want to follow him, so it’s not exactly gospel. On the contrary, the NFL likely would’ve put out some sort of statement refuting the message if it weren’t true. The NFL privately admitting to not making the correct calls at the end of last week’s Colts-Browns game is the big news. Whether or not they understand it isn’t important since mistakes of a similar vein will happen again. Until major action prevents that, “understanding it” is akin to a Republican member of Congress giving “thoughts and prayers” after a horrific event.
It’s not clear what play, or plays, Irsay is referring to. The contenders are the penalties given to cornerback Darrell Baker Jr. The first call negated a fumble recovered by Indianapolis that would’ve ended the game, and given the Colts the victory. Indianapolis felt the contact Baker made with Amari Cooper was incidental, not deliberate. On the next play, Baker was flagged for pass interference, despite a throw to Donovan Peoples-Jones being in the murky area for being uncatchable. Four plays later, the Browns scored the game-winning touchdown.
Now comes into question whether Irsay broke league rules with his message on the platform formerly known as Twitter. Information given out in private calls aren’t to be shared publicly and it’s unconfirmed where Irsay got the information he shared on social media. The timing makes sense for when those calls would take place. What would a punishment be for that? Or does the NFL look the other way when it doesn’t want to make a bigger mess out of this situation? Knowing the league’s tendencies when it comes to public relations, here comes full-on chaos.
Irsay gave his opinions on a fix for the situation on X as well, which would only make NFL games even longer, so no thanks. Instituting instant replay for every call, including penalties, inside the last two minutes, already exists to some degree with booth reviews. I guess he wants the league to review penalties when they affect his team only? It just doesn’t make sense when those things usually even out. I’m sure Colts fans feel hard done by Sunday’s game. I’d take the positives that your offense can put up that many points with Gardner Minshew leading the way. And maybe don’t give Cleveland so many chances.
