NFL commissioner Roger Goodell prides himself on the league's good officiating crew and has even proclaimed that the group is doing the best work it has done in many years. Despite evidence to the contrary, Goodell doesn't seem to believe there is any issue with having a part-time crew making game-defining calls every week, especially ones involving the players' health and safety.
The amount of missed calls or unnecessary calls that have been made this year feels lengthy and that's unfortunately the case already for the Patriots in their matchup with the Jets on Sunday.
The victim of the latest no-call is quarterback Drake Maye, who has proven he is motivated to win despite all the troubles surrounding the team so far this season. He's put the team on his back through the first half, so much so that he is currently the leading rusher with a touchdown to match.
On one of the plays he ran down the field for, Maye was blatantly struck with a helmet-to-helmet hit that the referees did not throw the flag for. One made sure to check in on the quarterback since he was slow to get up, but didn't think it was necessary to penalize Jamien Sherwood for the illegal hit.
Here’s that hit Drake Maye took to the head.#Patriots pic.twitter.com/R1EL4B0L7a
— Henry McKenna (@henrycmckenna) October 27, 2024
To make matters worse, Maye finished the drive but immediately went into the medical tent when it was over. He was then seen headed to the locker room, with Jacoby Brissett taking over in his absence.
It's just the latest example of malpractice from the NFL officials. Missing another clearly evident call is more significant when it involves a player's head, or at least that's what the league wants us to believe.