Former Chiefs OL Mitchell Schwartz played his last NFL game against the Bills in week 6 of the 2020 season. Watching the same fixture last night, he was not happy.
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As sports fans, we often have a tendency to blame referees when our team experiences anything slightly unfavorable. They’re an easy target and they have no connection to a team, so viewers can hurl abuse at them without any feeling of constraint.
More often than not, this is just the fan’s method of coping with a loss and their complaints aren’t totally reasonable. However, if you’ve heard anyone upset over the officiating in the NFL this season, chances are that their grievances are entirely justifiable.
Fans have been irritated at the refs all through the first 5 weeks of the season, particularly at their decreased leniency towards taunting calls. Perhaps it’s because officials are feeling the pressure of home crowds after a year’s hiatus, but whatever the reason may be, the referees have objectively been terrible so far.
Mitchell Schwartz Can’t Believe How Bad Refs Have Been This Season
Mitchell Schwartz, the former Browns and Chiefs OT who played 9 seasons in the NFL, was just one of many viewers to voice his discontent with the officiating on Twitter.
After blown holding and roughing the passer calls in the Chiefs-Bills game yesterday, Schwartz tweeted this.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? The state of refereeing is at an all time low right now. I’m not entirely sure why but it’s so bad and it’s bad across the entire league
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 11, 2021
And although you might jump to the criticism that Schwartz is biased, considering he was a Chief and won the 2020 Super Bowl with them, the 2 calls went in opposite directions and were simply incorrect.
This goes for both plays, the hold and the roughing. It’s consistently bad.
— Mitchell Schwartz (@MitchSchwartz71) October 11, 2021
Like he said, the only thing that’s been consistent about the officiating this season is that it’s been bad. This seems to happen every season. The refs go on a run where they’re atrociously inaccurate, and then slowly recover.
Hopefully the recovery comes soon because the quality of football and the excitement surrounding the NFL right now is soaring, and the last thing we need is botched calls ruining good games.
