There were some horribly inept penalties called Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers hosted the Arizona Cardinals, and Alex Boone is “sick” about how the league’s referees continually ruin the game he loves to play.
After the 49ers were undeniably robbed by the refs Sunday, Boone went off in the locker room, blasting the officials.
“I’m not really too worried about getting fined. I thought those refs sucked,” Boone said at his locker, per Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News. “That’s what I’m sick about this league,” Boone continued. “This is supposed to be a man’s game. Be a man. That’s what pisses me off, that guys like that work in this league and work on this field, and we have to deal with it. … It’s the truth. You don’t like it, get the hell out of here.”
The 49ers were far from the only team that was jobbed by the refs this past weekend, but the misses by the officials in their game against the Cardinals were particularly egregious. Boone wasn’t the only player in San Francisco’s locker room who had something to say about it, but his statement rings truest of all.
Even opposing head coach Bruce Arians was critical of the officiating job done by the crew on the field, saying “the officials were struggling mightily. I mean, they can’t count to three.”
The 49ers came close to taking down their NFC West rivals, and there is no doubt the bad calls hampered their ability to finish the job. However, as we’ve seen all year, this isn’t a new problem that has only afflicted San Francisco. There was a horrible stretch during the Sunday night contest in Denver when the visiting New England Patriots were robbed a handful of times in about 20 minutes.
After that game, Bill Belichick was visibly miffed but offered a typical muted response.
Belichick: "Talk to the league … I am sure they have all the answers on that" re: questionable calls.
— Eric Edholm (@Eric_Edholm) November 30, 2015
Unfortunately, as we’ve all seen, the league doesn’t have the answers. Officials can’t even agree on what a catch is from game to game, and the overall problem of poor officiating seems to be getting worse every year.