The Green Bay Packers were on the wrong end of a pass interference flag being picked up late in their game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, and Aaron Rodgers was highly critical of the non-call. After Green Bay’s loss, Rodgers hinted at a theory about why the penalty may have been waved off.
The Packers were down two touchdowns with 8:21 remaining in the fourth quarter and facing a 4th down. Rodgers tried to complete a deep pass to tight end Robert Tonyan, and Vikings safety Anthony Harris was called for pass interference. You can see the play below:
“From my vantage point, it wasn’t even close…It didn’t seem like a tough call to me,” Aaron Rodgers on this play: pic.twitter.com/k1OKvNhboF
— The Packers Wire (@ThePackersWire) November 2, 2020
Officials got together and determined that there was no foul for pass interference. The flag was picked up, resulting in a turnover on downs. Rodgers hinted to reporters after the game that he believes the NFL league office influenced the ruling.
“I know there’s times where, they probably won’t admit it, but New York is looking at some of these plays and telling them whether or not it was pass interference or whatever the penalty is. From my vantage point, it wasn’t even close,” Rodgers said, via SI.com’s Bill Huber. “From my vantage point, it actually helped that the ball fluttered up in the air a little bit because it threw off the timing slightly and [Harris] got there clearly early. Didn’t seem like a tough call to me.”
FOX rules analyst Dean Blandino agreed with Rodgers, as he said during the broadcast that the flag should not have been picked up.
Obviously, the flag being picked up was huge. Had the Packers scored on that possession, they would have been trailing by one score with plenty of time remaining. Instead, they got the ball back later in the quarter and scored a touchdown but didn’t have enough time to complete the comeback.
The Packers have been a bit inconsistent over the past month, and a quote Rodgers gave after a recent loss was somewhat surprising. You can’t blame him for feeling like the officials made a mistake late in Sunday’s upset.
