NFL League Office Asked for Incorrect Offsides Call on Brotherly Shove
If you were watching the broadcast of Sunday Night Football, you saw how absolutely absurd the offsides call against the Philadelphia Eagles was when the Eagles and Dolphins got offsetting penalties on the first "Brotherly Shove" of the night.
But what you might now have known is that the league actually told referees to make that call, even though it's wrong.
This dates back to Week 4, when the league office sent out an official warning about the play.
Jason Kelce says on @newheightshow that the NFL sent a warning to the #Eagles regarding the Brotherly Shove formation, alleging Landon Dickerson has been lining up in the neutral zone. However, in the “offsides” call received on Sunday, Jason says the NFL got it wrong and… pic.twitter.com/XhtGOVOgsC
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) October 4, 2023
This is the exact mistake the referees made in Week 7. They ruled Landon Dickerson offside because they didn't realize that center Jason Kelce was in a four-point stance, with his own hand next to the ball. Dickerson wasn't even remotely close to offside, and the replay proved it beyond a doubt.
But the NFL didn't even just make the mistake as an "in the moment" kind of slip-up. They did it in an official memo.
And the referees went on to make that exact mistake.
it didn't cost the Eagles on Sunday Night Football — the offsetting penalties meant we got to try (and succeed on) the sneak again, so no real damage was done.
But this is getting ridiculous.
The league can't ban a play like that during the season (it would have to happen with the offseason rule changes), so it seems like they may well be purposely calling incorrect penalties to get the Eagles to stop running it anyway.
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