Jon Gruden
USA TODAY Sports
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The Los Angeles Rams fell in an 18-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon, dropping to 2-4 on the season, and a controversial personal foul call played a big role in the final seconds. The Rams have plenty of reasons to be frustrated with the officials, but former NFL head coach Jon Gruden is already doing the complaining for them.
Gruden blasted the NFL’s replay system on Monday, saying that it “makes me sick” that the call wasn’t corrected. And he questioned why the league even has a replay official if he isn’t going to step in on a call like this one.
Controversial Call Against Rams
The Rams took a 16-15 lead with 47 seconds left after Matthew Stafford hit tight end Colby Parkinson for a touchdown. But on the Cardinals’ final drive, Jalen Brooks made a 21-yard catch, and Rams cornerback Josh Wallace was flagged for unnecessary roughness after Brooks’ helmet collided with him as he came down with the ball.
The penalty added 15 yards to the play and set up Chad Ryland for a 43-yard field goal, his sixth of the game, as time expired.
Even the Fox broadcast questioned the call.
“It looked, to me, like Brooks is just landing on Wallace’s right shoulder,” analyst Greg Olsen said, via Fox Sports.
“For me, that’s one I do not think needs to be called,” added Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira.
‘It Makes Me Sick’
Gruden, who now works with Barstool Sports after resigning as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 amid his email scandal, didn’t hold back during an appearance on Wake Up Barstool on Monday morning.
“We have a guy in the booth; he’s called the replay official,” Gruden said, via Awful Announcing. “And his job is to look at the game and see calls that are screwed up. He has communication with the white hat. And I should just say, ‘Hey, Dave, you really screwed up that call, pick up the flag.'”
“Now, for that not to happen, it makes me sick. I don’t understand what the hell we’re doing! We have all this technology; look at this super high-speed, Emmy Award-winning shots you’re showing. What’s the point in having a guy up there communicating?” Gruden continued.
It’s worth noting that Pereira pointed out that replay could only take the flag off if there was no contact at all. In this case, there was contact, even if it was not worthy of a personal foul.
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