It's always a battle when the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, two old-school NFC rivals, take the field. They were going at it again at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, and, well, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
In the third quarter, Packers defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. came into the Lions' backfield and made contact with Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Goff went down, and Cox was flagged for a 15-yard penalty. The hit itself didn't look that bad, and plenty of people around the NFL appeared to agree.
The Lions led the Packers 17-14 after three quarters, so the game itself was highly competitive. But the officials were also drawing plenty of criticism over the call against Cox and the Packers.
One NFL observer captured Cox's hit on Goff in a video clip from the game being aired on FOX. The observer posted online, "THE WORST ROUGHING THE PASSER PENALTY in NFL HISTORY #packers Master class acting by Jared Goff? #NFL".
In the clip itself, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is shown reacting in disbelief to the call on Cox. Marcus Spears, an NFL analyst for ESPN, also couldn't believe the penalty. Spears posted online, "That was a weak [expletive] roughing call, man."
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Former NFL quarterback Kurt Benkert, who played for the Packers, was quite pointed in his reaction to the call. Benkert posted online, "Home cooked [expletive] [expletive] here in Detroit. Investigate them @NFL. "That's a tough one" from the announcers. Come on man. Goff flopped like [expletive]."
Benkert wasn't finished, though. He added in another post , "Refs should NEVER change the outcome of a game. Replace them with robots at this point. Idc."
Another NFL fan summed up the frustration from a Packers perspective: "Packers vs Refs … Again".
One fan wrote, "That was an awful call."
A Packers fan wasn't happy with the call on Cox, either. The fan posted online, "Quite literally one of the worst calls I've seen in my lifetime of being a Packer fan".
Another fan who watched the play simply wrote , "He was blocked into the QB. This is insane".
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One user on X couldn't believe what he had just seen at Ford Field, either. The fan posted online, "He was pushed into him. What a joke (it continues to be)."
The Packers and Lions were still battling in a close game after the controversial call. For Packers fans and others around the NFL who disagreed with the flag, the hope was that another officiating decision wouldn't become the defining moment of the matchup.
The Packers entered the game ranked 16th in PFN's Offense Impact Metric with a 74.2 grade, while the Lions ranked fifth with an 82.3 grade. So far in this game, though, both teams' defenses have arguably been the stronger units.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
