DETROIT – Some voiced their disappointment and confusion with their faces. Xavier McKinney did it with his words.
But there was an undeniable sense of bewilderment inside the Packers' locker room following a frustrating 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions Sunday afternoon at Ford Field.
Green Bay admittedly had its chances, going 1-of-4 in the red zone with two missed field goals and a third-down drop in the end zone for which Josh Jacobs apologized to his team after.
But there also were penalties, several of them. Green Bay was flagged twice more for roughing the passer, pushing its season total to eight while Packers quarterback Jordan Love still has yet to draw one.
The Packers also had officiating come into question during their season-opening loss to Minnesota and last week's 23-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys.
In addition to two roughing calls, there was an intentional grounding penalty on Love, a defensive pass interference penalty on Brandon Cisse that wiped out an interception, a no-call on a deep ball to Bo Melton and a controversial decision on a third-quarter play in which umpire Terry Killens Jr. became involved.
"We might have a drive where we're getting stops but you're calling penalties and it's like, this is not a penalty," McKinney said. "To me, it just don't really make any sense and it's killing our momentum, it's killing our drives and it's kind of (messing) up the games, if I'm being honest."
The incident with Killens was the most discussed after the game after he flagged defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt for a personal foul on a key second-and-11 sequence in the third quarter.
The play in question saw Isaiah McDuffie attempting to drag Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to the ground. Neither referee Alex Moore nor Green Bay's defense heard a whistle blow, which would've indicated the play was over.
Evidently, neither did St. Brown as he returned to his feet to continue the play. Wyatt then tackled St. Brown at the same time Killens entered the fray and was knocked to the ground.
With St. Brown's cleat appearing to make contact with the umpire, Killens threw a flag from his back on Wyatt. Two plays later, the Lions retook the lead, 17-14, on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams.
"I'm confused too. I guess we're supposed to, just, I don't know. I can't even tell you," Wyatt said. "What if he would've got up and ran for a touchdown? Then everybody would be looking at D-Wy like 'You let him go.' I feel like I did the right thing. Flag or not, I feel like I did the right thing."
In the pool report, Moore said, "We ruled the play was over. I can't honestly hear if there was a whistle or not, but the tackler made the tackle, the play was over."
The Packers appeared to generate a three-and-out on their next defensive series, only for Brenton Cox Jr. to draw a roughing the passer penalty after being blocked into Lions quarterback Jared Goff.
Cox said afterwards he was trying to pull up but his hands made contact with Goff's abdomen, throwing the quarterback off-balance.
"Maybe like stop in my tracks," said Cox when asked if there's anything he could've done. "I don't know, I'm trying to give you a good answer but it's disappointing that these are veteran guys – I'm not trying to go after the refs – well-informed guys and I feel like you've got to know the difference between what's intentional and what's not."
Moore and his crew let both sides play on the perimeter for most of the game, including what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit from Brian Branch on Tucker Kraft in the first half.
However, Detroit got another first down when officials ruled Cisse made contact with St. Brown before picking off Goff four plays after the roughing call on Cox. Green Bay still got off the field, though, when Cisse had back-to-back pass breakups in the end zone on third and fourth down.
After retaking possession, Love was penalized for intentional grounding on a pass intended for Kraft. Moore said in the pool report that Love was not outside the tackle box, and the pass didn't make it back to the line of scrimmage.
Green Bay tied the game at 17 after a 43-yard Trey Smack field goal with 7 minutes, 14 seconds left in regulation and had a chance to retake the lead after the defense earned a turnover on downs after Lions head coach Dan Campbell chose to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 24.
Smack missed a 35-yard field goal, though, and the Lions took over at their 25. Two plays later, Moore flagged defensive tackle Karl Brooks for unnecessary roughness on Goff to begin a 10-play, 71-yard scoring drive for the Lions that ended with Jake Bates' game-winning 22-yard field goal.
Penalties have unfortunately been a recurring theme for Green Bay, beginning with Shawn Hochuli's crew in the regular-season opener in Minnesota. Afterwards, McKinney voiced his frustration over how things are playing out on the field.
"There are drives where they make calls that don't even make any sense," McKinney said. "We had a call … the runner was still running, and we didn't hear a whistle. We tried to get him down and then their player hit the ref and he falls, he gets mad on the ground, and he just throws the flag. He don't even know who hit him."
Asked about the possibility of being fined for speaking up about officiating, McKinney told reporters afterwards: "I would rather get fined and try to help my team out because I see what's going on and it's killing us."
"We all see it," McKinney added. "We all see what's going on. Everyone sees what's going on, the fans see what's going on, we see what's going on when we're out there. I'm looking at the plays and I'm like, 'Hold up, why are they calling this? It don't even make any sense.'
"And then the fact you're not even reviewing what you're calling. You're just calling it and you're seeing it and you're like even they're looking at it, like, 'OK, that's not a …' I'm asking the other refs, and they're like, 'Oh, I'm not over there.' It's a lot of (stuff) that doesn't make sense right now. But at the end of the day, we've still got to find a way to go there and win these games. It's making it a little bit harder when the officiating is that way, if I'm being honest."
Jacobs' return: Running back Josh Jacobs had 91 total yards on 16 touches, including a 25-yard touchdown reception on which he tiptoed down the sideline to give Green Bay a 14-10 lead over Detroit less than three minutes into the third quarter.
But the play Jacobs will lament is letting a ball go through his hands in the end zone on a third-and-5 pass from Love that would've put Green Bay up with a little more than three minutes left.
Smack then missed a 35-yard field goal, giving the ball back to Detroit.
"I apologized to the guys because at the end of the game, I called that play where I dropped the touchdown in the end zone," Jacobs said. "That's one thing I told him. I'm like, 'Man, from my standard, I like myself 10 out of 10.' That's a play I gotta make, so really I said if you want to blame anybody, put it on me."
A switch-up at center: The Packers lost starting center Sean Rhyan (ankle) and backup Jacob Monk (quad) to injuries in the first quarter, leaving second-year offensive lineman John Williams as the next man up.
Green Bay had another tough day on the ground, rushing 19 times for 60 yards (3.2 yards per carry), but Jacobs put much of that on himself in his first game back.
"I think the offensive line did a pretty good job today," Jacobs said. "Even when the guy is right there, those are plays that I make. For me, I know they expect me to make the play or thinking I'm gonna make the play. For me, it's about knocking off the rust. I'll take accountability for all that today."
