It was hard to tell who the New York Giants were actually up against in Week 8 — the Philadelphia Eagles or the officiating crew. With the way the calls (and non-calls) broke, you’d be forgiven for thinking the refs were wearing Kelly green under their stripes.
Two instances left the sourest of tastes in Giants fans' mouths. The non-call on Eagles linebacker Zack Baun after a blatant hip-drop tackle was egregious. The illegal play drew no flag, but did draw the medical cart, as rookie running back Cam Skattebo's ankle got lodged under Baun's weight — exactly why the league's focusing on rooting it out of the game.
Before that, though, came the most ridiculous moment of all — a fumble that somehow wasn’t. Philly lined up in their infuriating tush push, and Jalen Hurts dove forward. But before any whistle blew, Kayvon Thibodeaux ripped the ball out of Hurts’ hands, seemingly forcing a fumble. Or so fans thought. The refs claimed they had called forward progress, and ruled the play dead — only they hadn’t.
Two plays later, Philly scored a touchdown. Needless to say, the G-Men were livid, and Brian Burns did his best Marshawn Lynch, "I'm just here so I don't get fined," impression after the game:
"I ain't going to get fined, but the refs made their call. It is tricky."Brian Burns
Brian Burns keeps it real after Giants get hosed by officials
Watching in real time was... confusing. It’s clear as day on the replay — there’s no indication the play was ruled dead before KT snatched the football. The call was so bad that head coach Brian Daboll went ballistic on the sideline. And rightfully so.
Burns might’ve kept his cool, but others didn’t. Thibodeaux went full throttle in his hilarious postgame rant about the sequence. Burns even jumped in mid-rant to warn him he’d get fined if he kept going. Although most of the damage had already been done — especially once KT said, “Sounds like some bull**** to me.”
He hilariously pivoted: “Sorry, that was a great call.”
The frustration was obvious, but what stood out even more was the lack of clarity on how to officiate the most annoying play in all of football — the tush push. Not only is it a false start every single time, but once the ball is snapped, there’s no consistent way to call it. The Eagles hide behind chaos to make it work.
Burns explained the absurdity of the play perfectly:
"You don't know how they're going to call it. You could stop the surge, and they can allow it to keep pushing. It's just tough. It's a weird play."
No one knows how to officiate it. So get rid of it. What are we still doing?
Fans will have to wait and see what fines get handed out. Sure, Thibodeaux is likely on the league’s radar, but Baun should be fined through the floor for that tackle on Skatt. And Burns should probably be applauded for not saying more. Still, what a complete bungle from the officials. One of the worst officiated games in recent memory — and they should be fined too for putting fans through that.