NFL officiating has become so bad some fans think games are fixed.
That was the serious charge leveled by Shannon Sharpe on FS1's "Undisputed" Tuesday after poor officiating marred the Raiders' 27-20 win Monday night against the Texans in Mexico City.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer and three-time Super Bowl champion pointed to the controversial call in which a line judge blew dead a play in which the Texans' DeAndre Hopkins could have scored a 60-yard touchdown reception from Brock Osweiler
Instead, the official called Hopkins out of bounds. The Texans had to settle for a field goal on their opening drive on the "Monday Night Football" game telecast by ESPN.
"I'm telling you, Skip, they don't think the games are on the up and up," Sharpe told Skip Bayless and Joy Taylor. "That what fans are starting to think."
If he were a Texans fan, coach or player, Sharpe said he'd have a hard time swallowing a call that seemingly cost them a touchdown on their opening drive.
If the line judge hadn't blown the play dead, it probably would have been reviewed anyway, Sharpe said. Then the replay officials could have used all these fancy replay cameras the TV networks brag about.
"The official who blew that whistle? That's unacceptable," Sharpe declared.
Bayless countered that many NFL owners, including Jerry Jones of the Cowboys, want human error kept in the game because it sparks discussion, intrigue and controversy.
“I don't think they mind that somebody wonders about, 'Is this rigged? Is this fixed?' Because people have wondered that, trust me, for 50 years about this league," Bayless said.
