This week, an unwanted song made a comeback on “Thursday Night Football.” The officials’ hit on Packers quarterback Jordan Love during the first quarter of Thursday’s playoff game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions was a nasty miss. Love was under pressure and was able to get rid of the ball before being sacked on a third-and-five play from the Detroit 47-yard line. However, video showed that during the play, Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith clearly struck Love in the facemask. However, no flag was raised, and Love’s pass went incomplete, forcing the Packers to punt the ball away.
NFL regulations provide that if a defender “forcibly hits the quarterback’s head or neck area with his helmet, facemask, forearm, or shoulder,” a roughing-the-passer penalty should be called. Despite obviously meeting that requirement, Smith’s hit was not called. The Packers lost an additional 15 yards that would have put them within field goal range, as well as a new set of downs.
Missed calls on quarterback facemask shots have made Thursday night games notorious. In Week 10, Cincinnati star quarterback Joe Burrow was punched in the facemask on the game-winning two-point attempt and did not receive a flag. In Week 8, Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold had his facemask snatched at a critical moment without a call. This week’s hit on Love’s facemask wasn’t nearly as crucial to the outcome of the game, but it was still a terrible whiff.