Is Lions Face Mask Penalty Proof Penalties Should Be Reviewable?

In the interest of transparency, the league has been telling us when the referees screwed up a call this season. There have been a few that impacted the end of games, and there was another one last night during the Lions-Packers game. Lions defensive end Devin Taylor was called for a face mask that gave the Packers one more play when at most one finger grazed Rodgers' face mask.

Rodgers completed his first Hail Mary on the next play and the Packers won (and the Lions playoff hopes ended).

via Reddit

Dean Blandino's explanation as to why it was called supports the argument that penalties should be reviewable:

Hand up to the mask, quick grab with finger and head gets turned. At full speed official is going to make that call almost every time.

— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) December 4, 2015

He is right. At full speed and without the benefit of a zoom lens this would get called every time, and every time it would be wrong. A finger grazed the face mask and that was it. It certainly didn't provide enough pressure to turn Rodgers' head. Had this been a play that could have been reviewed the Packers would have lost.

So--should penalties be reviewable? It sucks to see them impact the outcome of the game and the playoff fate of a team. With that in mind the answer is yes, they should be. However, would making penalties reviewable, even if just during the final two minutes of the game/half, be the beginning of a slippery slope? If that change gets made it will be easier and easier to argue for other changes.

Do we really want a league where anything and everything can be second guessed?

Loading...