Eagles overcame AWFUL one-sided officiating from Pete Morelli’s crew to beat the Panthers

Look, I don’t enjoy being “complain about the refs” guy. I don’t think anyone really wants to be that person.

But the AWFUL, one-sided officiating from Pete Morelli’s crew on Thursday night in the Philadelphia Eagles versus Carolina Panthers game needs to be called out. It was disgraceful. It was so bad that I’m still talking about it after the Eagles friggin won the game.

The Eagles were penalized 10 times against the Panthers for a total of 126 penalty yards. The Panthers, meanwhile, were also penalized once for one yard. This disparity was so lopsided that it was actually THE FIRST TIME IN NFL HISTORY that it happened.

It’s not like this was just one weird game, either. Morelli’s crew has a track record of calling a lot more penalties on the Eagles than their opponents. Remember the awfully officiated Eagles-Lions game from last year? Yep, that was Morelli’s crew.

But wait! Morelli’s one-sided officiating goes back even further.

I’m not saying I know Morelli has an agenda against the Eagles. But I am saying that this just doesn’t seem right. It’s not even close to being fair or balanced.

There were a number of awful calls (and non-calls) in the Eagles’ win over the Panthers. Here’s all what I noticed:

1 - Carson Wentz ran for a first down ... but it was cancelled out by a very tacky “block in the back” penalty on Alshon Jeffery.

2 - Jalen Mills got called for an absolutely BS pass interference penalty on the Panthers’ next drive.

3 - LeGarrette Blount got called for unnecessary roughness for legally blocking a rusher in pass protection. Bad flag.

4 - Wentz converts to Zach Ertz for a first ... but the play is wiped out by a timeout?! What the hell. How did the officials not stop that play before it got off? Doug Pederson took the timeout to prevent a delay of game, for the record.

5 - Brandon Graham got held on a first down to Ed Dickson. No call.

6 - It looked like the Eagles should have had a chance to attempt a Hail Mary of their own. at the end of the first half. There was two seconds left on the clock and the ball was incomplete on the ground after Carolina’s attempt on fourth down.

7 - A Rodney McLeod interception on an awful deep pass from Newton gets wiped out by a Mills pass interference penalty. It was another tacky call.

8 - Wentz airs it out to Jeffery on third down and it’s a good pass. Just goes through the receiver’s hands. Gotta catch that. But also: James Bradberry was holding one of Jeffery’s arms. No call, though, of course. It would’ve been a tacky flag, but that’s what the refs were calling on Mills. Call it both ways.

9 - Kenjon Barner got facemasked on a run for a loss of six. No call.

10 - Wentz scrambles ... and it’s a holding penalty on the Eagles. Except, if anything, it should’ve been hands to the face on the defensive lineman that Stefen Wisniewski was blocking.

11 - The Panthers face 3rd-and-10. It’s a delay of game ... but Derek Barnett hits Newton and gets called for a 15-yard penalty. Such bullshit! There was no whistle. How were the defenders supposed to know the play was over?! This is f***ing garbage. Insanity. The Panthers go on to score a touchdown. What a joke. It should’ve been 3rd-and-15. Instead the refs gifted Carolina a touchdown. This is stupid.

Officiating crews aren’t going to get every call right. It’s a tough job. But Morelli’s crew has had a bad track record for quite some time now.

Morelli has no business calling Eagles games from now on. His performance seriously requires a close review. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie really needs to address this matter with the league. It sounds like the organization might do just that.

I enjoyed Doug Pederson’s response to questions about officiating. He did enough to imply the calls were awful without actually saying as much and getting himself fined or in trouble.