Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a beating in Thursday night's loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
and in the fourth quarter, two facemask violations simply went unpunished. One of them .
Viewers are furious, with Skip Bayless actually leading the way by saying the NFL ruined one of the best games he's ever seen.
“How can you let Baltimore get away with hitting Joe Burrow twice in the head on the last drive?” . “A grab for the face mask. One hit on the face mask and you don't call it? This is just suffocating. That’s just because the refs are afraid to reach for yellow in Ravens Stadium because they’re afraid of the Ravens fans.”
Typically, such reactions to the office come across as exaggerations and are easily dismissed. But when the official broadcast of the game points out the missed flags – and suggests that there has been a problem all year – it's hard to wave your hand away.
The Bengals missed many opportunities to win Thursday night's game and move to 5-5. Instead, they are 4-6 after blowing a big lead. But yes, it would be nice if all-time classics like Thursday Night – and every game, for that matter – weren't so regularly marred by strange referee hiccups.