It's Not Just You. NFL Officiating Objectively Stinks This Year

NFL officiating is awful this year.

I say this as a lifelong NFL fan, and one who has always tried to not complain about officiating as much as possible.

But it's completely out of control this season. Why, in the year 2025, has NFL officiating taken such a backslide?

NFL Officiating is Offensively Bad

Let me begin this critique of NFL officials by clearing the air.

No, this is not about being a Denver Broncos fan. Most of this season, the Broncos have been the most-penalized team in the NFL. Currently, they're second. That's on coaching first and foremost, and a lot of the defensive pass interference penalties were correctly called on Riley Moss.

Hey, why complain when the Broncos are 10-2, are on a 9-game win streak, and are in prime position to win the AFC West for the first time since 2015?

Now, if they lost to the Commanders due to many, many, bad and missed calls, I'd have a reason to complain. (More on that game in a minute.) But Denver somehow pulled out the win—thank the universe for Nik Bonitto—even though the Commies picked a defender on the would-be winning 2-point conversion.

The reason for this piece is not to complain because the Broncos are getting jobbed by the refs. It's being written because the refs are jobbing every team, and ultimately, making the sport unwatchable for both the die-hard and casual football fan.

It's not just you. The NFL officiating is objectively bad this year.

It's so bad, the credibility of the league is being questioned.

Numbers Don't Lie

Generally speaking, there are too may penalties in any given NFL game.

They bog down the game, and even commentators notice and call out when a long stretch of play goes uninterrupted by flags. Speaking of commentators, they have become accustomed to waiting after a touchdown is scored for multiple seconds before announcing said score to see if a flag will come in.

That's not great for the television product.

Simply, NFL football is the most complicated game in the world. Even lifelong football fans, commentators who played the game, and officials themselves don't fully understand the rules.

But let's first get into the nitty gritty of how many penalties are being called this year compared to others. TL;DR penalty calls are way up in 2025.

Joe Mahoney of Mile High Report has been posting these penalty numbers on Bluesky. Thankfully, he updated it this week.

What we see from that chart, and NFLPenalties.com, is an increase from 3,717 total penalties in 2010 to 4,307 last year. Of course, there's been an extra week of play added compared to 15 years ago which is part of the increase, and it should be noted that these penalty numbers fluctuate. For instance, there were fewer calls in 2013 than 2010 (they aren't just steadily increasing), and then there was a huge jump in 2014 (4,246 penalties).

So, I think it's valuable to look at how this year's calls compare to the last five years' average, as Mahoney put together. All told, there have been 252 more penalties called this year than the average of the last five seasons to this point. That's more than an extra week's worth of calls, and we still have five weeks of football to play.

Exactly why NFL officials are calling more penalties this year is unknown. But what we do know is these officials aren't getting calls correct.

It seems to point to them not understanding what is and what isn't a penalty, guessing, and ultimately affecting the outcomes of games.

It's been a long season. We'll discuss some of the missed or incorrect calls from earlier in the year, but let's focus on Week 13 for two reasons: One, the recent games' mistakes stick out like a sore thumb, and two, the Thanksgiving games were the most-watched regular season games in NFL history.

Week 13 Featured Tons of Terrible Officiating

Week 13 included the three Thanksgiving games, which 40-plus million people watched. They're important because casual fans may be watching some of their only football of the year outside of the Super Bowl.

For that reason, it's important for the NFL to get calls correct to present their best product if they want to win over those new fans. And if they want to keep us longtime die-hards happy too.

Packers vs. Lions

Let's start with the Packers-Lions game on Thanksgiving.

According to FOX, it was the most-watched NFL regular season game in history, hitting 47.7 million viewers (before the Chiefs-Cowboys game later that day).

And yet, there was at least one blatant error by the officials.

Late in the first half, the Packers were at the Lions 2 yard line and Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur called a timeout after his team committed a false start penalty. And yet, the officials granted the timeout they shouldn't have.

It was 3rd and 5 from the 2; Green Bay should've been backed up five yards. And if the clock were running, it should've also included a 10-second runoff.

Even Kevin Burkhardt called out the officials' mistake.

The awful officiating led some fans to want the game to be investigated by the FBI. Which, LOL. LMAO even.

Chiefs vs. Cowboys

The Chiefs have been on the "right" side of bad officiating for years. Specifically, a study out of UTEP found "postseason officiating disproportionately favored the Patrick Mahomes-Era Kansas City Chiefs." Now, I already had one irate Chiefs fan call me out on Bluesky for posting this study, saying it was debunked, but he failed to provide evidence. If anyone has any evidence, please comment with it.

And while Broncos fans know the Chiefs have been favored for years, it seems all NFL fans know it, too. Chase Daniel, the former NFL quarterback turned content creator, even mentioned it in a tweet during the Chiefs-Cowboys game on Thanksgiving.

"It's almost like the officiating is trying to prove the national narrative wrong that the Chiefs get all the calls," Daniel Tweeted.

Former NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino also criticized the officiating, which favored the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. He thought it raised some red flags when Kansas City was called for five PIs in one half, "I don't think the Chiefs have had five pass interference calls all year up to this point."

I counted three DPIs on the Chiefs during the second half. There was also a defensive holding, but Blandino was exagerating a bit. Still, he may have a point on it being a poorly called game.

The one PI that was certainly questionable was Trent McDuffie's against CeeDee Lamb on the sideline. It seemed like hand fighting, and a bad call. Possibly illegal contact. You make the call.

Remember, this game eclipsed the one earlier in the day for most-watched regular season NFL game ever, at 57.2 million viewers. Bad officiating hurts the game and could leave a bad taste in new viewers' mouths.

Broncos vs. Commanders

I obviously watched this game closely and stressed all the way through the fourth quarter and into overtime. One note that someone mentioned on Reddit was Sean Payton and Dan Quinn know each other well, plus they both came off the bye, so it made sense it was played so tightly. Denver won 27-26 in overtime.

Still, the officiating was garbage. Both ways.

There were so many bad calls. Let's list the top missed or bad balls in Broncos-Commanders Week 13:

• Personal foul on Nik Bonitto for pulling Tyler Biadasz off of Zach Allen after the play. Then, Laremy Tunsil threw Bonitto on the ground, no call.
• Bo Nix was hit in the head on a pass attempt by a defender's helmet. No call.
• Marcus Mariota was tripped by Dondraa Tillman, went down, but gained yards on a scramble. Expedited replay called him down, but no call on the trip.
• Deebo Samuel of the Commanders picked Pat Surtain on the game-tying touchdown to Terry McLaurin, no call.
• Then, Treylon Burks picked Talanoa Hufanga on the 2-point conversion attempt, no call.

Keep an eye on No. 13 near the end of the line. He even squared up his shoulders.

Certainly, the bad and/or missed calls went both ways.

This illegal grounding was called on Mariota when he avoided a sack, but he sailed the ball over the receiver's head who was outside the numbers. Terry McAulay immediately called the officials out for that mistake, it shouldn't have been called.

And finally, head referee Land Clark screwed up the overtime coin toss. A team can either choose to kick/receive OR the direction, not both.

This wasn't the first time the officials have screwed up the overtime coin toss this year. As ProFootballTalk pointed out; they also allowed the Panthers to do so against the Giants, and the Colts to pick their direction against the Falcons in Germany. (A game that was played in a stadium Hitler built, talk about a bad look for the NFL.)

Luckily for Denver this wasn't a windy game, but imagine if one direction had strong wind in the face of the offense. It's also pretty ironic that Land had that smug grin when he "corrected" the Commies punter, but then didn't actually get the call right.

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Texans vs. Colts

ProFootballTalk was so upset with the calls in the Texans-Colts game, they did a segment about it.

The calls they had an issue with were: A DPI on the Texans, a DPI on the Colts, and a Ka'imi Fairbairn extra point.

The first one was the defensive pass interference on the Texans, which Simms and Mike Florio argue is an uncatchable ball. It clearly was uncatchable. The game was 13-6, with the Texans are winning. Indy scored on the next play to tie it up.

On the very next drive, there was a DPI called on the Colts this time. As Florio explains, there was a missed delay of game at the snap, then on the same play, PI on the Colts. It looks like the receiver Xavier Hutchinson fell down and there was minimal contact. Bad call.

The play was huge because it was 3rd and 15 with the 4th quarter just started. It gave the Texans a first down at the Colts' 25 yard line, where they'd score the game-winning touchdown three plays later.

Finally, the PAT on the same drive. Fairbairn's kick went over the top of the post and Florio didn't think it went in. He wrongly asserted the entire ball needs to go inside the inside of the post, but it needs to be within the outside edge, not the inside edge. And that ball, and call, was good.

We could probably go on and on about the missed and bad calls NFL officials made just last week. That's how bad it's become.

Specific Penalties Officials Continue to Mess Up

Now, backing up from the zoomed in perspective of those recent games and calls, let's zoom out to the calls the officials seem to miss all the time.

False Starts

Offensive tackles can jump the snap now, which is, weird? They get half a step before the snap, but that's clearly a false start and gives them an advantage on pass rushers. Technically, they're allowed to change their position just as the ball is snapped, again, making football the most complicated game in the world.

Tush Push

Speaking of false starts, line judges are missing the calls on many Eagles Tush Push tries. For the record, I think the play should remain in the game. Why? It's a quintessential football play. We push you or you stop us.

Remember, way back in the 19th century, the forward pass was illegal. In fact, it wasn't legalized until 1906. That means there was 37 years of football (1869-1906) without passes, and many of the plays they ran likely resembled the Tush Push.

If you don't like the Tush Push, stop it. Simple as that. And, it's good to note the Eagles' success with the play has diminished over time.

However, the Tush Push—and other QB sneaks—has it's own problems. Specifically, when the play ends if it's a fumble or not. Like on Kayvon Thibodeaux's fumble recovery against the Eagles earlier this year. The officials don't know when to blow the whistle to end the play. And they don't want to blow a play dead too early because that would negate a fumble.

In the last AFC Championship Game, Josh Allen seemed to gain a first down on a QB sneak, but was called short. The league needs to use the microchip in the ball for placement, not just their virtual measurements, and help officials out.

Delay of Game

Along the same lines, a rule that has changed recently for the worse is delay of game. As was the case in that Texans-Colts game, the clock hit zero, then the umpire has to look at the ball to see if it's snapped before blowing the whistle, which in effect gives the team an extra second.

Pass Interference

Pass interference calls completely change the outcome of games. They are so game-changing, some fans (Chiefs fans) actually cheer for the refs to make calls more than they cheer for their team to make plays! I know this is anecdotal evidence, but I witnessed it firsthand at the Chiefs-Broncos game in November.

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Speaking of pass interference in the Chiefs-Broncos game, Riley Moss was called for two of them, and they both seemed like penalties. Unlike this one Moss was called for against the Giants.

There are many missed or wrongly called pass interference penalties every week.

Like this one, that should've been called against the Bears, as the aforementioned McAulay said to Al Michaels:

This may be a hot take, but PI should be a 15-yard penalty instead of a spot foul. Teams toss up deep balls late in games hoping some random back judge will bail them out, and often times they do. Then, they get the ball 30-45 yards downfield. Or even at the one-yard line if the foul occurs in the end zone.

Defensive pass interference is the third-most often called penalty in the game behind offensive holding and false start. It has too much of a sway over the outcomes of games. They need to get this figured out. Interesting note: offensive pass interference is called roughly 1/4 the time as defensive (213-51 calls this year).

Leverage

Leverage is a good penalty because the long snapper is at a disadvantage, but it needs to be evenly applied.

The Broncos lost to the Colts due to a leverage call as time expired. Do you know how crushing it is for a fan—or player for that matter—to win a game on a missed field goal only for the refs to award the other team 15 yards and another try. It hurts the product on the field, especially when it's called so very rarely. Of the 3,071 flags this year, leverage has been called only twice.

In terms of it being evenly applied; the Colts also committed a leverage penalty against the Broncos in that same game—using the long snapper to gain an advantage to block a kick—which wasn't called. In October, the Commies used leverage to block a Bears kick that could've won them the game, not called. There are likely many more missed leverage calls from this season alone.

Helmet-to-Helmet Contact

Now, while I understand there are judgement calls in the league on pass interference, and the athletes are incredibly fast, there are some calls that are simple to make.

Helmet-to-helmet contact is one.

One that Denny is referring to from that Monday Night Football game between the Giants and Patriots three days ago was Gunnar Olszewski on a punt return. The defender's hit literally chips paint off his helmet and knocked Olszewski out. (This one's ugly, avert your eyes if you don't want to see it.)

The Monday Night rules analyst said it wasn't a foul because he's a runner, which, no. Just no.

Here's the rule in the rulebook:

Both a and b are evident here. The only way it would be considered not a penalty is if it were incidental contact, which you'd like to believe, but he lowers his helmet into the dude.

Considering the NFL tried to hide the effects of CTE from the public for many years, and these knockout plays are making the game harder for some of us to stomach let alone watch, they have to do a better job of calling these fouls.

Especially when they completely changed the kickoff last year to limit these types of hits.

How to Fix NFL Officiating

The clear and obvious answer here is to have full-time officials.

I remember a few years ago hearing that NFL officials aren't full time and just couldn't believe it.

We're talking about a $23 billion business here! We're talking about 50 million Americans tuning in on their TVs and devices during Thanksgiving Day—instead of looking at their crazy uncles and listening to insane conspiracy theories—to watch these games. We're talking about $30-35 billion being bet on the NFL this year (an estimate, $27.5B last year).

In a league where the highest-paid players make $60 million in a single year, they have to be able to find the money to pay officials, what, $100,000 a year? $200,000 for a head referee? That's nothing compared to the league minimum for players ($840,000).

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Despite the billions brought in by the NFL every year, and owners enriching themselves to insane degrees, consider that cheerleaders are still part-time employees. One anonymous cheerleader said she's paid $12.50 an hour, which is less than you can get working at a grocery store.

So, when you realize the NFL owners are not only among the richest people in the world and are simultaneously among the cheapest people, it all starts to make sense why the officials are not full time.

Chris Simms makes a strong argument for full-time officials in that YouTube video posted above.

There should be entire crews who work every game together all year long, who study film together, and learn together. "Hey Land, you know you screwed that overtime kickoff up, right?" In that same vein of working together to improve, they could discuss what a hip drop tackle is since only two of them have been called all season and Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins was injured by one.

Officials should also not focus on other jobs, being CEOs, ranchers, teachers, and more.

If the league wants better officiating, which one has to think they would—this negative reporting on the league doesn't help it grow—they need to make their officials full time.

However, former superstar defensive lineman and current color commentator J.J. Watt pushed back not the idea.

“I can be as hard on refs as anyone at times (certainly was when I was playing), but I am not convinced that ‘full time’ refs fixes the frustrating issues,” Watt wrote on X per Awful Announcing. “You have to remember that these are still humans at the end of the day. There is still the element of human error, regardless of how much training, time on task, etc.”

Watt has a point, but he's also missing the forest for the trees.

The goal of "fixing" the officials should be to improve their consistency while also admitting there's no way to ever get a game completely, 100% correct. These are humans, and even with video replay and expedited review, even with the Hawk-Eye technology the NFL uses for its measurements; there will always be some mistakes.

What Watt's missing is we need to limit the mistakes and bring the number as close to zero as possible. While, again admitting some judgement calls will be missed or penalties will be wrongly applied from time to time.

I think every fan would be happier knowing the league is working to be better, bringing those numbers of egregious mistakes down as close to zero as possible.

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