NFL Officiating's Explanation for Dead Play in Bucs-Titans is Infuriating

It would appear that we can't get through one week of football without an utterly braindead display of officiating.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were deprived of an impartial ending in their clash versus the Tennessee Titans on Sunday when their special teams united scooped and scored a fumble on a woeful fake field goal attempt by Mike Vrabel's side. The touchdown would have given the Bucs a 29-27 lead in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, BUT officials had inexplicably already blown the play dead. They simply love to do that!

Shortly after the end of the game, the NFL released their explanation for the call and, per usual, it was borderline exasperating.

What exactly are we doing here?

Not only were the refs wrong in saying that Kern was down by contact before the pigskin came out of his grasp, but they were also dead wrong in blowing their whistles so prematurely, and this interpretation doesn't acknowledge either of those apparent blunders.

Since the play was blown dead, the zebras could have only given Tampa Bay the ball at the spot of the recovery. Had the play been allowed to run its course, refs could have gone back and rightfully ruled a touchdown after determining that Kern, in fact, lost the football before he was down. The whistle blowing early benefits no one.

We've said time and time again that something needs to change, but commissioner Roger Goodell will likely continue to just ignore the issue.

Refs continue to have too much say in the outcome of games, and that concept is significantly hindering the league's otherwise scintillating product.

And no, the pass interference challenge did not take a big enough step towards mending this relationship. Just wait for the postseason. We're due to have a Myles Jack fumble whistle redux.