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Twitter reacts to questionable facemask penalties in 49ers-Titans first half
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Questionable officiating hurts both teams in 49ers-Titans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
There were two very questionable calls in the first half of Thursday night's matchup between the 49ers and Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium.
In the first quarter, a penalty benefited the 49ers after the Titans were called for a facemask on a completion from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to fullback Kyle Juszczyk. After re-watching the play, it was clear that the Titans defender should not have been called for the penalty.
“face maskâ€
🗣 GET SHAWN HOCHULI OFF MY TV
he is legit terrible @nfl, how many times do we have to watch his horrible crew alter outcomes of games pic.twitter.com/I79UUQ6TV4— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) December 24, 2021
“Face mask penalty†@NFL refs are atrocious. It’s embarrassing pic.twitter.com/4a9S6qHEMx
— Prodan (@prodan_matt) December 24, 2021
refs being asked to explain that face mask call pic.twitter.com/JLOAnJaEv9
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) December 24, 2021
In the second quarter, the 49ers were the ones called for a facemask penalty after Titans defensive lineman Bud Dupree jumped offsides, forcing left tackle Trent Williams to react immediately. There were two penalties on the play, an initial offsides penalty and then the subsequent facemask penalty called on Williams.
Because the facemask penalty (15 yards) is the bigger of the two penalties, the offsides penalty (5 yards) was canceled out, which sparked plenty of criticism because the facemask penalty likely wouldn't have happened if Dupree was not offsides in the first place.
This rule is a bit unfair: Bud Dupree was offsides (5-yard penalty) leading to Trent Williams' not being ready and grabbing his facemask (15-yard penalty). Penalty is called on Williams.
Williams doesn't grab the facemask if Dupree doesn't go offsides. pic.twitter.com/Z5UYAApa3a— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 24, 2021
That’s such a garbage enforcement if there is no offsides there is no holding/facemask.
— mark schlereth (@markschlereth) December 24, 2021
Free play offsides because defender jumps and causes all-world lineman to grab him by facemask when he otherwise wouldn’t and the facemask wipes out the offsides making the play far from free and that seems, um, absurd.
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) December 24, 2021
That play should have been whistled dead with pass-rusher unimpeded to the QB. Instead, Trent Williams gets called for a facemask penalty.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) December 24, 2021
That’s a bad rule. Blow the play dead then. No way T Williams was going to let Bud just tee off on his QB.
— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) December 24, 2021
Both facemask penalties were questionable calls and frustrated both the Titans and the 49ers.
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The first half of Thursday's game was rather one-sided with the 49ers leading 10-0 over the Titans at halftime after an all-around strong first half.
Without each of these two facemask penalties, though, the score might have been different.
