The officials were prominently involved in the first half of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game between the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles. And Tom Brady, calling the game for Fox, had mixed reactions to some of the critical calls — or no-calls.
While nursing a 14-12 lead late in the second quarter, the Eagles faced a fourth-and-five. They played aggressively, going for it. The decision paid off when Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown connected on a 31-yard pass, picking up the first down. Philadelphia was aided on that play when holding was not called against running back Saquon Barkley on a critical block.
Brady called the hold out on replay, something rules analyst Mike Pereira agreed with.
Later in the drive, another controversial no-call went Washington’s way. Hurts fired a pass to tight end Dallas Goedert in the end zone. The pass fell incomplete and while there was ample contact from defensive back Marshon Lattimore, no penalty was called.
Brady defended that no-call — as well as others like it.
“Yeah, there’s a little contact,” Brady said. “But when you’re a big man — a tight end — they’re usually not going to give you those type of calls. I do like, the ability in the playoffs, I’ve always felt this as a player, let the players play. Let ’em go out there, be physical — and I’m not saying something egregious. But I don’t love seeing the refs factor into too many games. I want to see the players on the field decide why they advance or not.”
The no-call didn’t prove too costly for the Eagles, who scored later in the possession.
Later in the half came another close play. This penalty was called — in favor of the Eagles. Barkley caught a short pass from Hurts and went out of bounds — seemingly bringing up a fourth down. But moments after Barkley’s first foot hit out of bounds, he was hit by Washington’s Mike Sainristil. Sainristil was penalized for a late hit, giving the Eagles a fresh set of downs.
As Brady watched the replay, he was in full support of the penalty. Pereira agreed.
“Right on the sidelines, Sainristil saying ‘He was in bounds.’ He’s got his right foot — just as the left foot hits,” Brady said. “I think that’s a good call.”
To be clear, by the letter of the law, Brady was 100% on that play. That said, it was close. Close enough that, while the contact from Sainristil came after Barkley went out of bounds, Sainristil began hit hit before. Given the speed he was going at, it would have been awfully hard to pull up and not hit Barkley.
While it was the right call, it also seemed to fall into the “non-egregious” category that Brady mentioned minutes earlier.