COLTS OWNER JIM IRSAY SAYS NFL ‘ADMITS’ TO OFFICIATING MISTAKES ON SUNDAY, QB ANTHONY RICHARDSON’S SURGERY WAS A SUCCESS
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said on Tuesday the league admitted they did not make the correct calls during the end of their game against the Browns on Sunday, and called for instant replay on all calls within the last two minutes of all games.
Irsay said via a post on X: “The NFL admits and understands that they did not make the correct calls at [the] end of Sunday’s Colts/Browns game. I believe we need to institute Instant Replay for all calls, including Penalties in the last two minutes of All games.”
The news comes on the back of Sunday’s controversial ending to the game against the Browns in which a questionable illegal contact to the face call with 38 seconds left negated an EJ Speed strip sack and a DeForest Buckner fumble recovery, and in turn gifted Cleveland a first down.
The second penalty was a bizarre defensive pass interference call on a play in which the ball went sailing out of bounds that took the Browns down to the 1-yard line. Both penalties were flagged on Colts defensive back Darrell Baker Jr. who was covering wide receivers Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones respectively. The Browns went on to score the go-ahead touchdown from the one-yard line through running back Kareem Hunt.
“I don’t agree with the penalties at all,” Baker Jr. said after the game. “When those balls are uncatchable, usually they don’t throw those flags out, especially when they’re initiating the contact with the corner. You can put your hands on them, too, as long as you’re looking for the ball. I’m not impeding their force or anything. I don’t know what else I can do better than that.”
“They’re both uncatchable. End of the game… I don’t know what else you can do as a corner, when you’re competing for footballs like that.”
While Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen preferred to stay silent and deferred commenting on the two calls, owner Jim Irsay opted not to with his tweet on Tuesday.
Irsay has been one of the more vocal NFL owners in recent years and has been open to breaking away from the norm and doing as he pleases. The Colts owner was the only NFL owner to call out former Washington Commanders owner Dan Synder to sell the franchise when no other owner said it publicly, and he indirectly gave the media an inside look at the running back market from an owner’s perspective during the summer when he said a specific player category CBA would be “inappropriate.”
The Illinois-born billionaire also made headlines in late July when he, on record, went on to dismiss any importance placed on players, saying the league would carry on without him or Colts All-Pro running back, Jonathan Taylor. Irsay would end up doing a complete turn-around and signing Taylor to a three-year, $42 million deal earlier this month.
As far as the officiating calls, the NFL communicates with teams on a weekly basis about various decisions and team officials are prohibited from commenting publicly on those discussions. While a team owner is not particularly a team official, a public statement revealing that the NFL admits to officiating mistakes from an owner is a damning headline for the league.
Irsay also revealed in his statement that rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson underwent successful shoulder surgery in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday morning. Richardson was placed on injured reserve on October 11th with a grade three AC-joint sprain before a decision for him to have season-ending surgery on his throwing shoulder was made a week later.
Richardson’s procedure on Tuesday was a long and meticulous one, and thankfully, no surprises were discovered during the operation. Irsay said the shoulder injury has now been repaired and the doctors corrected the issue. The 21-year-old quarterback is reportedly doing well and is now set for a long rehabilitation journey. Richardson is expected to be back in time for the 2024 season.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Tennessee Titans. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.