Hours after the NFL fired a referee midseason for the first time in the Super Bowl era, fans might soon be calling for more referees to join him after awful officiating to start Thursday Night Football.
Before the first offensive play of the game, confusion took over the first few minutes after the first kickoff following a series of penalties. Then a few minutes later, officials missed a clear tripping by the Houston Texans on a punt.
The most baffling gaffe came late in the first quarter when nose tackle D.J. Reader was called for hitting Miami’s long snapper in the head/neck area on a field-goal attempt. The penalty gave Miami a first down. Miami then scored on a 12-yard touchdown run.
Refs are blind. Claim the long snapper was hit in the head/neck area. That’s all shoulder. Dolphins ended up getting a TD smh pic.twitter.com/9oNFZbF21L
— Adam Abramson (@Adam_Abramson1) October 26, 2018
Officials later missed a clear defensive pass interference against Dolphins wide receiver Danny Amendola on a play that resulted in an interception and a touchdown.
After racking up a plethora of blown calls that turned into points in just over a quarter of action, Twitter didn’t hold back ripping the NFL’s officiating crew.
Dolphins 3, Refs 4, Texans 0.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 26, 2018
At least the refs are equally terrible towards both teams.
This is embarrassing.
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) October 26, 2018
Pac 12 refs vs NFL refs pic.twitter.com/xY1Uy1Bqbc
— Mac (@azsportsfien) October 26, 2018
No longer watching the NFL game tonight….these the refs apparently pic.twitter.com/JfJLdc47gg
— Jay Gatsby (@Leach__) October 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/davidcanter/status/1055627147002462208
If the NFL is now firing officials on the spot for obvious mistakes then this crew might not make it to halftime. What the hell was that?
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) October 26, 2018