Lambeau Field thought it had another takeaway to celebrate on Sunday night, and then a yellow flag decided otherwise.
Green Bay Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine intercepted Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, but defensive end Lukas Van Ness was called for roughing the passer, wiping the pick off the board and keeping the Cowboys’ drive alive.
Craig Wrolstad’s crew made the call in the Week 6 Sunday Night Football clash, and it didn’t take long for voices in the NFL world to tear into it. However, Van Ness didn’t end up being the last Packers defender flagged for roughing Prescott on the night.
Lukas Van Ness Flag Wipes Out a Carrington Valentine Interception
The Packers had already picked off Dallas twice, with Evan Williams and Brandon Cisse each making an interception in the second quarter, so Valentine’s grab would have been the third of the night. Instead of handing the ball back to Jordan Love and the Green Bay offense, the flag on Van Ness erased the pick, and the Cowboys kept the ball.
Dallas, however, failed to score on that drive anyway.
Van Ness put his hands on his head after the call, and the Lambeau faithful made sure the officials heard exactly how they felt about it. One clip of the play captured the moment the pick came off the board.
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Analysts and Fans Question Where the Roughing Line Sits
Brett Kollmann, a host and analyst for NFL Pro, reached for a superlative the officials won’t want on their résumé: “That’s the most un-American roughing the passer call in history.”
Former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel, who spent his playing days on the side of the ball the rule is meant to protect, didn’t hold back either: “That is the worst roughing the passer call I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
Fans were every bit as baffled, and one of them dropped a rule-change pitch on the spot: “Roughing the passer needs to become reviewable. These calls are awful wow.”
Another NFL writer simply couldn’t square the flag with what she had just watched. “That’s roughing the passer now? We’re doomed as a society,” she wrote.
Quarterback coach Quincy Avery’s reaction was shorter still: “That’s roughing the passer?”
Ryan Wood, who covers the Packers for the USA Today Network, offered a measuring stick of his own, and it didn’t do the officials any favors.
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He wrote that he agreed with the roughing calls on Chris McClellan in Minnesota and Brenton Cox Jr. against Atlanta, but he drew the line at this one: “Can’t say I agree with that Lukas Van Ness roughing on Dak Prescott. I mean, that’s a lot of nothing.”
The Packers’ defensive front didn’t get much relief a few minutes later, when defensive tackle Karl Brooks was flagged for roughing Prescott as well, and the Lambeau crowd booed. FOX6 sports anchor Lily Zhao’s reaction was a simple “Good grief.”
The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman, who also covers the Packers, was left guessing at what drew that flag, wondering whether it was “because of how he fell on him.”
Wood didn’t buy that one either, arguing that Brooks hit Prescott “immediately after the throw, does not contact his helmet and does not land with his body weight on him” and that the officials “need to learn when to swallow their whistles.”
The Packers, who entered the night 3-2 and third in the NFC North, had controlled the game from the jump, building a 17-0 halftime lead on a Love touchdown pass to Matthew Golden, a Trey Smack field goal and a 1-yard Love touchdown run.
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Dallas got on the board with a 1-yard Javonte Williams touchdown run in the third quarter, but Smack answered with field goals from 44 and 29 yards.
Green Bay held on for a 23-13 win, and the officials finished with 11 flags against each team, costing the Packers 96 yards and the Cowboys 108.
Neither roughing call had cost Green Bay the lead by then. Still, whether anyone from the league explains what Wrolstad’s crew saw on the Van Ness play is a question that figures to linger at Lambeau long after the final whistle.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.