NFL's Officiating Problem Gets Worse and Worse Each Week: Traina Thoughts

Here are five examples of horrendous calls from Week 5 in the NFL

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1. And it's only going to get worse.

It's not exactly breaking news to say that the NFL has a major officiating problem on its hands. (Cheap plug: Troy Aikman recently went off about this on the SI Media Podcast.) However, whether true or just perception, things have spun out of control. 

Pass interference and roughing the passer are just complete crapshoots at this point and review barely helps. Here are five examples from Sunday that make you wonder if the league can ever fix this mess.

“Roughing the passer” pic.twitter.com/ADJkVUjvQg

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 6, 2019

The issue isn't missing a call. That's going to happen in every game in every sport. The issues are the frequency of calls that are just completely wrong, even after review; how there is a flag on almost every play; how nobody has any idea what pass interference is; and how absurd the roughing-the-passer penalties have become.

The most concerning part of all is that it feels like Pandora's Box has been opened and there's no going back. It seems we've reached a point where the problems aren't able to get fixed. 

Of course, we're all NFL junkies and we need our fix every Sunday no matter what, so the league's bottom line won't get hurt by its officiating problem. And that's another reason why it's not going to get fixed.

2. Packers running back Aaron Jones did it ALL Sunday. He had 182 total yards and four touchdowns in Green Bay's win at Dallas. He also delivered a hellacious stiff arm and savagely waved at a Cowboys defender while scooting into the end zone.

3. Terry Bradshaw was all of us Sunday. His reaction to spilling coffee all over his tablet while doing halftime highlights was something we can all relate to.

4. What a weekend for the WWE. Friday started with The People's Champion mixing it up with The Man in a vintage Rock segment.

But SmackDown's first show on FOX ended with a truly awful "match" between Brock Lesnar and Kofi Kingston and then a guy coming out who non-UFC fans like me were clueless about. I'm not sure why WWE thinks WWE fans want to see UFC fighters. This might sound crazy, but I would think if people wanted to see UFC fighters, they'd watch... UFC.

Then came Sunday night's Hell in the Cell pay-per-view, which ended with fans booing and chanting "AEW" after the Seth Rollins-Bray Wyatt match ended in a DQ. 

Yes, a Hell in a Cell match somehow ended in a DQ. Even WWE superstars were baffled by the decision.

SI.com's Justin Barrasso has a full recap of the event and the crowd's unhappiness. 

5. It was a productive night for Dodgers star Justin Turner on Sunday. He hit a three-run homer in L.A.'s 10-4 win over the Nats and then made himself a meme.

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A post shared by Justin Turner (@redturn2)

6. The latest SI Media Podcast features an interview with Triple H about a variety of WWE topics including whether CM Punk will join FS1's weekly WWE studio show, whether NXT vs. AEW can replicate the "Monday Night Wars" and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

7. RANDOM YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY: I overheard someone saying "step off" to someone else while walking to the SI office this morning and it reminded me of one thing.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.