While college football fans debate the merits of keeping unbeaten Florida State out of the playoffs because of a key injury and disqualifying Georgia following the Bulldogs’ first loss in 728 days, the NFL can preen over a postseason bracket that’s determined on the field itself.
By the players and the coaches.
OK, sometimes by the officials, too.
An NFL season chock full of erratic enforcement of the rule book reached bedrock in Week 13, which kicked off with Dallas’ 41-35 win over Seattle in a rare Thursday night shootout that featured a phalanx of flags to go with its plethora of points.
Sunday’s pair of marquee afternoon attractions featured crucial calls and non-calls alike as the two teams with the league’s longest active winning streaks both lost.
In Houston, the Texans had a scoop-and-score wiped off by a quick whistle in their crucial 22-17 win over the Broncos, but they also got away with an obvious pass interference that denied Denver an early touchdown that could have changed the tenor of the game — and might ultimately help extend the Broncos’ long playoff drought.
In Philadelphia, the 49ers’ 42-19 shellacking of the Eagles was marred by several late flags and one strange sideline squabble that resulted in the ejections of a San Francisco player and the Eagles’ security chief who acted like a bouncer out in public when he got between the two players involved in a heat-of-the-moment altercation.
The wacky weekend wrapped up with an obvious but unflagged pass interference by Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine that denied former Green Bay receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling a deep catch in the final seconds.
Patrick Mahomes followed with a Hail Mary into the end zone where safety Jonathan Owens shoved tight end Travis Kelce just as he jumped for the ball that fell incomplete, leaving Green Bay the victor in a 27-19 classic that shook up both the AFC and NFC playoff pictures.
“The first 59 minutes were really well-officiated, in my…
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