Troy Aikman slams officials during Packers-Giants replay review: 'Just make a decision'
Troy Aikman was all football fans Monday night.
As a replay review during Monday's New York Giants win over the Green Bay Packers carried on, the ESPN broadcaster had seen enough. He blasted the delay as "ridiculous."
The play in question took place with 13 seconds remaining in the first half. After the Packers kicked a field goal to take a 10-7 lead, Anders Carlson's kickoff landed down the right sideline, then bounced off Giants tight end Lawrence Cager before going out of bounds at the 11-yard line.
Officials initially ruled that Cager didn't touch the ball and threw a penalty flag that would have given the Giants possession at their own 40-yard line for the presumed illegal out-of-bounds kick. Replay clearly showed that Cager touched the ball first, which means there was no penalty and the Giants would take over at the 11-yard line instead.
As the review carried on for roughly 90 seconds, Aikman urged officials to wrap it up.
Troy Aikman just said what everyone that has watched an #NFL game this season has thought at some point…#MNF #Giants #Packers pic.twitter.com/2NXiOkqcQm
— Artie Schweitzer (@ArtieSchweitzer) December 12, 2023
"The problem with all this is just make a call," Aikman said. "I mean, there's 13 seconds left in the half. Just make a decision. This is what stops all these games. The officials — I know — they've been talked about every week.
"But this is ridiculous what we're watching right now. We see something that takes five seconds and it takes them five minutes."
The review didn't take five minutes. And the delay wasn't particularly egregious. But Aikman's point stands.
What was patently obvious to anyone with functioning eyes and a TV screen at a glance took officials more than 90 seconds to sort out. And the decision either way almost certainly wasn't going to make an impact on the game.
There were 13 seconds left in the half of a three-point game, and the Giants didn't have any timeouts. This is a standard take-a-knee-and-head-into-halftime situation whether at the 11- or the 40-yard line.
The review came on the heels of another on the prior Packers drive with 19 seconds left in the half that stoked Aikman's ire. That call on an incompletion from Jordan Love to Romeo Doubs was also obvious and took more than two minutes to sort out.
"This shouldn't take long," Aikman said upon seeing Doubs bobble the ball on his way out of bounds. "I hope that they heard."
Monday's instances weren't the most glaring examples of officiating inefficiency this season. They probably weren't even the worst Monday night. But Aikman's exasperation speaks to a larger frustration with officiating in the NFL and across sports. It's a frustration that emanates from fans, players, coaches and broadcasters with games that are bogged down by repeated delays and impacted by questionable calls at critical moments.
It's not a new phenomenon in sports. But it's one that's only getting worse and doesn't offer simple solutions.
