J.J. Watt Has Become Important Voice in Holding NFL, Refs Accountable

1. The NFL has an officiating problem. This is not news. I've written about this many times in recent weeks.

However, it's one thing for a schlub like me, or fans, or even writers and bloggers to complain about ridiculous calls. 

But when a future Hall of Famer who was one of the more iconic NFL players for a decade repeatedly calls attention to the problem, it will have an impact.

Now that J.J. Watt's playing days for over and he's transitioning into media, working part-time for CBS's NFL Today and appearing weekly on The Pat McAfee Show, he doesn't have to hold back when it comes to criticizing the league. 

And Watt has been doing just that on his Twitter account. Often.

This is just a 100% honest question.

This screenshot I’ve attached is from the video you just released, with the commentary stating “It is a foul… to hit the knee area or below on a passer.”

The defender is LITERALLY NOT hitting the knee area.

There are absolutely examples… https://t.co/UbVqhddszv pic.twitter.com/Dg3vo5GAIK

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 9, 2023

What do you want defensive linemen to do?!

Someone please tell me.

Roughing the passer penalties are out of control.

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 6, 2023

I will say it again… This is STEALING money from guys.

These absurd fines for routine football plays have got to stop.

Fines for intentfully malicious plays?
Absolutely.

Taking $21,694 from a guy for this?!

What are we doing. This is out of control. https://t.co/GC05qoUScs

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 5, 2023

This is literally stealing money from a guy. I mean what are we doing here?

I don’t care how much money you make, $48,556 is a LOT of money (it’s Jaylen Warren’s entire game check) and we’re taking it away from him for this? Really?

This is horrendous. https://t.co/BjUzSaciWJ

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) October 29, 2023

Lack of accountability for refs is infuriating for players because they don’t receive the same leniency.

Players get flagged, fined & can potentially win/lose games on erroneous calls.

Refs get “corrected” privately after the fact and “may” lose out on postseason opportunities. https://t.co/6BMvM4N7wZ

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) October 16, 2023

Some thoughts about all this.

Not only is Watt calling out terrible roughing-the-passer calls, but he's also focusing on the league taking players’ money, which you don’t usually hear about it. And you can bet that the NFL is far from thrilled every time they see Watt point out that the league is “stealing” money from players to his 5.6 million Twitter followers.

While I won't make the leap that Watt has the NFL rattled, I do think he has helped make the league a little rattled because all of a sudden the NFL is actually trying to fight back (in sad and lame way) against the blowback officials have gotten this season.

Two weeks ago, out of nowhere during the Raiders-Lions Monday Night Football game, NFL senior VP of officiating Walt Anderson popped on camera to defend an unintentional grounding call against Jared Goff. Troy Aikman thought there should’ve been a flag, and ESPN rules analyst John Parry said the refs blew the call. 

So someone in the NFL offices then made ESPN put Anderson on camera to proclaim that the refs were correct in making the noncall in a transparent and embarrassing moment.

You thought that public confidence in NFL officiating couldn’t sink any lower. Put this man on television more often and prepare yourself to be amaaaaazed. pic.twitter.com/NgwhsQ1Pl7

— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) October 31, 2023

Now cut to Thursday. On a random afternoon, the official NFL Football Operations Twitter account decided to post a four-tweet thread to explain the league’s nonsensical roughing-the-passer rule.

c. In covering the passer position, Referees will be particularly alert to fouls in which defenders impermissibly use the helmet and/or facemask to hit the passer, or use hands, arms, or other parts of the body to hit the passer forcibly in the head or neck area (see also the…

— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) November 9, 2023

e. A passer who is standing still or fading backward after the ball has left his hand is obviously out of the play and must not be unnecessarily contacted by an opponent through the end of the down or until the passer becomes a blocker, or a runner, or, in the event of a change…

— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) November 9, 2023

For the complete, official text of Rule 12 Section 2, Article 11: Roughing the Passer, visit the @NFL Video Rulebook: https://t.co/zxRYukTWr5

— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) November 9, 2023

Normally, the NFL follows the old “never let them see you sweat” mantra, but it’s pretty clear the league is feeling the heat.

I’m not a huge conspiracy theory guy and I don’t think Watt is solely responsible for the NFL getting defensive when it comes to its officiating problem, but I also don’t think it’s merely a coincidence that the NFL is trying to fight back after a player of Watt’s stature is regularly calling out the league. 

Fans can only hope J.J. Watt and other important voices keep up the pressure so in the offseason the league makes some changes to the roughing-the-passer rule and takes some steps to improve the officiating. 

2. On a totally and completely unrelated note, not only is Watt a hero for calling out horrible calls, but he’s also a hero for taking this stand:

Koa turned 1 a couple weeks ago.

He is now “1” until he is “1 and a 1/2” and then “2”…

I refuse to do the whole “months” thing.

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) November 9, 2023

There are few things more ridiculous than when someone says, “Oh, my son is 13-and-a-half months old.”

3. For months, I have extensively pointed out how the Stephen A. Smith on the Stephen A. Smith Show podcast is not the Stephen A. Smith you see on ESPN. 

Allow me to do so once again.

Taking more questions for today’s recording of the Stephen A. Smith show.

Send ‘em here https://t.co/x0QzE2f5uS

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 9, 2023

https://t.co/DrqO4FDv10 pic.twitter.com/H7NPm6qju6

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 9, 2023

4. Good Morning Football’s Kyle Brandt will be a guest on Monday’s edition of the ManningCast, so he gave us a hilarious all-Manning edition of Angry Runs on Friday. 

Angry Runs: ManningCast Edition.

See you Monday, @KyleBrandt. pic.twitter.com/yPsm9NVqCZ

— Omaha Productions (@OmahaProd) November 10, 2023

5. Here's some good news to take you into the weekend. The great Kevin Harlan, who is 63 years old, says he wants to keep working for at least 15 more years.

How many more years does Kevin Harlan plan on broadcasting?

He discussed with us on this week's @announcerskeds Pod - The full episode drops on Thursday. @BucSidelineGuy pic.twitter.com/ClVv4mTVE4

— Mike Gill (@MikeGillShow) November 8, 2023

6. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped Thursday, and it features no guest. It's an all–“Traina Thoughts” edition with weekly contributor Sal Licata from WFAN Radio and SNY TV.

This week, I detail my struggles in trying to book a guest for this week’s podcast, we reminisce about the horrible experience they had when we took pictures with Larry David and we discuss the NFL’s prime-time schedule woes and flex-scheduling changes that need to happen. We also discuss Troy Aikman’s call of Chargers-Jets on Monday Night Football, including his repeated criticism of New York quarterback Zach Wilson, and we speculate about LeBron James’s recent streaming issues with YouTubeTV.

We also address tweets regarding whether sports can be enjoyed without gambling on them, an important trait for NFL play-by-play folks, the Apple TV remote control and much more.

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

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. On this week’s podcast, which you can listen to above, I explained in detail the importance of a football play-by-play person alerting viewers to a flag being thrown on punt returns, kick returns and long touchdowns, in general. So it was nice to get a bunch of tweets Thursday night about what I said on the podcast after this happened in the Panthers-Bears game.

https://t.co/JkPpoHm6gb

To your point about Buck.. this is worst case scenario

— TopShotYoda (@TopShotYoda) November 10, 2023

8. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: On this date, Nov, 10, in 2002, The Sopranos gave us one of the best lines (“What are you, a vegetarian? You eat beef and sausage by the f------ car load”) and best death scenes in the show's history after Tony confronted Ralphie about killing Pie-O-My.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.