Last night, before the Eagles blew the game against the Falcons, it appeared that safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson had won it, with a key stop of Falcons running back Bijan Robinson on fourth and short with under six minutes to play.
The impact knocked Gardner-Johnson’s chinstrap loose and rattled his helmet. But it was clear that he then used both hands to remove the helmet — which is a clear violation of the rules.
Out came a flag. After that, something happened. Gardner-Johnson and other Eagles players approached the official who threw the flag and convinced him that Gardner-Johnson did not remove his helmet.
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman seemed to buy it, too, along with ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk. Sorry, guys, but I’ll trust my lyin’ eyes on this one; loose or not, Gardner-Johnson put both hands on the helmet and flung it off.
The point is that there’s value in trying to gaslight the officials. They’re human. They can be persuaded to doubt their own lyin’ eyes, in real time. Last night, they did.
Right or wrong, all’s fair when it comes to trying to persuade the officials not to do that which they believe they should do.
It wasn’t me.
I didn’t do it.
These are not the droids you’re looking for.
While the penalty wouldn’t have extended the Atlanta drive, it would have pushed the Eagles from the Atlanta 39 to their own 46 for the effort that ended with the ill-advised decision to throw on third and three.
And if the Eagles hadn’t made that mistake, the failure to flag Gardner-Johnson would have been a much bigger deal today.
