The Referees Have Some Explaining to Do As Panthers Continue to Suffer

The Carolina Panthers make it easy for the referees to penalize them. They commit a ton of really stupid penalties that are pretty obvious. See four separate neutral-zone infraction/enchroachments from today.

But the referees also take matters into their own hands plenty. We saw it last week against the Denver Broncos, as a comically inept referee crew led a circus of events that turned a should-be DPI into an interception a whole play later. But that’s neither here nor there.

On Sunday, the New Orleans Saints seemed to get the home-field advantage from refs that the Panthers didn’t get last week. It was clear early on that things weren’t going to be called fairly or accurately.

Here are some of the most egregious calls or misses that hurt the Panthers:

• Offensive pass interference on Darren Waller, wiping out a third-down conversion
• Missed pass interference against Tetairoa McMillan, preventing a conversion
• A holding call on Luke Fortner, taking away a Chuba Hubbard touchdown run
• Missed holding on Jaelan Phillips in the end zone, which should be a safety
• Devin Lloyd unsportsmanlike conduct for tackling a player who was not ruled down yet
• Alvin Kamara throwing a ball at Panthers’ defenders after scoring not whistled as taunting
• A standard block by Feleipe Franks was flagged, costing the Panthers 15 and a good return
• A highly questionable horse-collar call on a Jaelan Phillips sack
• An incorrectly called facemask led to the Saints tying the game in the dying embers

Now, all of these calls can’t go in the Panthers’ favor. It doesn’t work like that. And it’s certainly true the Panthers got away with some things. Generally, you get some calls, you don’t get others. But it seems like the Panthers didn’t (and haven’t this year) get any of the momentous calls.

Maybe Dave Canales heard the criticism that he’s not angry enough when his team is slighted. Maybe today was just bad enough for the mild-mannered and uber positive coach to break. Either way, even one of the nicest coaches in the NFL was all over the refs for some of these misses.

The Panthers can’t get out of their own way with bad penalties at even worse times, but they’re also getting the short end of the stick. There is a league-wide penalty issue, but the Panthers seem to weekly get the worst of it.

There are a few instances where the referees inserted themselves into the game and it hurt the Panthers this year. The phantom roughing the passer that led to a Panthers’ loss against the Browns comes to mind. That fiasco against the Broncos does, too.

Without veering into conspiracy territory, the replacement crew (thanks to the FAA shutdown) was simply not good and looked to be extremely one-sided. It somehow didn’t take the Panthers out of the win column, but the NFL has more explaining to do.

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