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What are the worst calls by referees this season? Here are our top five

What are the worst calls by referees this season? Here are our top five

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Super Bowl 50, billed as a celebration of a half-century of what has become the pinnacle sporting event in the Western Hemisphere, was marred — before the game ever started — on an obscure automatic coin toss loss by the Carolina Panthers for sending too many captains (teams are allowed six) out to midfield against the New England Patriots, leading the Patriots to score on their deferred first possession of the second half in what would end up a 27-24 victory.

Oh, phew, what a nightmare we just had!

It’s understandable during this poor-call-plagued season to fear the worst: that a playoff game — or worse, the Super Bowl — could be decided on a blown call by the referees. Human error aside, the repeated issues have drawn all kinds of negative attention to the league, the quality of the games and the possibility of serious controversy for a league cloaked in it already.

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Just past the midpoint of the season, there already have been several massive missteps by refereeing crews across the NFL. And after a Monday night affair in Foxborough that was about as bad as we’ve seen on that front, start to finish, we’ve boiled it down to the top five missed calls this season.

1. Play blown dead in Pats-Bills

We don’t want to be prisoners of the moment, but this was awful from Monday’s Buffalo Bills-New England Patriots game. Tom Brady escapes the initial rush, rolls to his right and delivers a pass — a good 2 feet from the sideline — to Danny Amendola, who smartly broke off his route to give Brady an outlet. The pass was pretty improvisation and could have resulted in a 69-yard Patriots touchdown and a 17-3 lead. Except for one thing: The referee blew the play dead. Why? Head ref Gene Steratore basically said after the game that the line judge lost track of the ball. So he blew his whistle? That might be the last thing one should do there; let someone who has seen the play make the call there, geez. The result — the Patriots getting the ball at the point Amendola caught it — felt almost as unsatisfactory, as the whistle  blew before he caught it. It was bad and could have severely impacted a playoff race.

2. Jags-Ravens ending

This Week 10 error cost the Baltimore Ravens a victory and thrust the Jacksonville Jaguars into the playoff race. The Jaguars were driving late, down 20-19, and yet it appears the Ravens were about to win when quarterback Blake Bortles was sacked on fourth down with one second remaining by Elvis Dumervil. One problem: Dumervil was flagged for a facemask, which gave the Jaguars new life. On an untimed down (the game can’t end on a defensive penalty) Jaguars kicker Jason Myers hit the game-winner in a 22-20 final. Uh, but yeah, one more problem: The league acknowledged that the Jaguars should have been called for false start on the Dumervil sack play, a dead-ball foul that would have ended the game with the 10-second runoff for an offensive penalty. So the Jaguars shouldn’t have won a game they won. That’s why it’s No. 2 on the list.

3. Seahawks batted ball vs. Lions

It might be a somewhat obscure rule, but it’s a rule nonetheless: A player can’t intentionally bat a ball, unless he’s trying to tip a forward pass. When the Detroit Lions faced the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4, the game came down to an illegal bat when Calvin Johnson caught a pass but was stripped of the ball at the 1-yard line by Kam Chancellor. The ball tumbled into the end zone, and Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright — making what he thought was a smart, instinctive play — tipped it intentionally out of the end zone. Normally, if Johnson fumbles out of the end zone, it’s Seattle ball at their own 20. That’s what the referees ruled, not flagging the blatant bat. So instead of the Lions having the ball inside the Seattle 1-yard line with 1:45 left to play and a chance to win the game, down 13-10, the Seahawks took over and ran out the clock for a dubious victory.

4. Golden Tate catch, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the NFL

Take your pick. It’s almost a joke at this point to wonder aloud what is and isn’t a catch in the NFL these days. Tyler Eifert, Devonta Freeman, Odell Beckham Jr. — they and scores of other offensive players have been denied catches. And in the case of Tate, defensive players have equal concerns over the definition of a catch. When the Detroit Lions faced the Chicago Bears in Week 6, Tate caught a pass from Matthew Stafford in the final minute of the first half and crossed the goal line. But before he completed the act of catching the ball — whatever that means — the ball was jarred loose and popped directly into the hands of linebacker Jonathan Anderson. Here’s the way the rule reads: “In the field of play, if a catch has been completed, and there is contact by a defender causing the ball to come loose before the player who caught the loose ball is down by contact, it is a fumble, and the ball remains alive.” Fumble, or in this case interception — no difference. Except that the referees ruled Tate controlled it long enough for a touchdown, touching off the whole “what is a catch?” madness this season. We still don’t have an answer, even if NFL head of officials Dean Blandino says he knows (it’s everyone else who needs to learn apparently).

5. Clock error in Steelers-Chargers

The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the San Diego Chargers on a walk-off touchdown by Le'Veon Bell as time expired back in Week 5, and it’s a good thing they did because they were robbed of nearly 20 seconds worth of clock after taking over on their final possession. The clock operator fell asleep at the wheel after the Chargers kicked off to the Steelers, as it should have stopped before their first ensuing offensive play. But instead, 18 valuable seconds ticked off — and neither referee Pete Morelli nor side judge Rob Vernatchi noticed — before the Steelers ran their first offensive play. League spokesman Michael Signora issued a lengthy explanation the next day with this key line: "Had the side judge or any of the other six on-field officials noticed the timing error, they could have corrected it." Luckily, the Steelers won, saving them even more embarrassment.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!