Officiating in the NFL has improved greatly in the modern era with the help of video replay. The league even expanded the use of video replay even further this year in an effort to get more calls correct, but some high-profile mistakes still happen, as was the case this week.
During Sunday afternoon's showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, officials made what could have been a game-changing mistake. The league has since admitted that mistake and offered a bit of an explanation as to why it happened.
NFL Embraces Video Replay
The unfortunate reality of any sport is that officials and referees are only human, and mistakes happen, especially in the speed of a live game when officials are often standing away from the action with obstructed views. As a result, the NFL has embraced video replay to ensure that the game is called as correctly and fairly as possible.
Beginning in 1999, the NFL began allowing coaches to challenge the call on the field. The league gave coaches two challenges throughout the duration of the game, later allowing an additional challenge if one of those two challenges was successful.
The league expanded its replay efforts in 2011 when it began automatically reviewing all touchdown plays. In 2012, it began automatically reviewing all turnovers, as well.
In 2021, the league expanded the use of replay even further, implementing an "expedited review," which allows replay officials to inform the referee in real-time of any "clear and obvious" mistakes, such as the incorrect spot of the ball or an incomplete pass. The use of this review has expanded in recent years as technology has improved.
Mistakes Still Happen
Despite the great lengths the league has gone to in recent years to make sure that the league gets calls correct, some high-profile mistakes still happen, as was the case this weekend during Sunday's showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles.
During the second quarter of the game, Cowboys wide receiver Ryan Flournoy made contact with Eagles punter Braden Mann's plant leg while trying to block the kick.
As a result, referees threw a flag, hitting the Cowboys with a 15-yard roughing-the-punter penalty against Dallas, handing Philadelphia an automatic first down. The Eagles took advantage of the first down, scoring a touchdown to extend their lead to 14-0.
Unfortunately, however, the flag never should have been thrown.
As a replay of the play shows, Flournoy clearly tipped the ball before he hit Mann, which means that he should not have been flagged for roughing the punter. Flournoy could even be seen on the sideline pleading his case to his head coach.
Roughing the kicker was called on the Cowboys despite replay appearing to show that Dallas got a hand on the ball. pic.twitter.com/zX1rQ8mhbT
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 23, 2025
NFL Admits Mistake
After the game, the NFL broke its silence on the controversial play as a league official admitted that this was a mistake and confirmed that it could have and should have been corrected by replay.
Mark Butterworth, the NFL's vice president of instant replay, told reporters that replay assist can overturn a roughing the punter call when there's clear evidence that the ball was touched before contact with the punter.
"We can use replay assist to pick up the flag when we have clear and obvious video evidence that the player that committed the foul touched the ball prior to making contact with the punter," Butterworth said in a pool report.
However, Butterworth claims that this play was not corrected by the expedited review process because the league didn't see a clear enough angle of the play to show that the mistake had been made until it was too late.
"TV showed an enhanced shot, which they can do. We don't have access to that enhanced shot until they show it. By then, it was too late," Butterworth added.
At the time, this looked like a rather significant, game-changing mistake from the officials as the Eagles retained possession and scored to make it 14-0 instead of the Cowboys getting the ball down just 7-0. However, the Cowboys ultimately pulled off an unlikely come-from-behind victory in the second half, overcoming a 21-0 deficit to win the game 24-21.
Still, it was a major mistake that the NFL should have caught, and it sounds like the league knows it.
This story was originally reported by Men's Journal on Nov 24, 2025, where it first appeared in the Sports section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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