Cris Collinsworth sounds off on ‘terrible’ pass interference call in Eagles-Lions

NFL Overreactions Week 11

USAT’s Prince Grimes breaks down the biggest storylines from NFL Week 11.

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NBC color commentator Cris Collinsworth was not a fan of a pass interference penalty called against Detroit Lions cornerback Rock Ya-Sin on the final drive of the Lions’ 16-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The controversial call occurred on a third-and-8 when Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was trying to throw the ball to A.J. Brown on the right sideline. Brown and Ya-Sin were engaged in minor hand fighting as the ball arrived, which caused the penalty flag to be thrown.

But upon seeing the replay, Collinsworth was incredulous and expressed his displeasure with the call on the NBC broadcast.

“Oh, come on. Come on! That is terrible,” Collinsworth said. “That is an absolutely terrible call that’s going to decide this football game. If anything, it’s an offensive push.”

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NBC did not have its rules analyst for the broadcast, Terry McAulay, weigh in on the play. That left Collinsworth and play-by-play man Mike Tirico to discuss the play.

The duo wrote off the contact between the two players as minimal, and Collinsworth closed his analysis by doubling down on his stance that the officials had gotten it wrong.

“You wanna call a foul, it’s an offensive foul,” he said. “Wow.”

The NFL’s official rulebook defines pass interference as occurring “when any act by a player more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage significantly hinders an eligible player’s opportunity to catch the ball.”

It also notes that pass interference can occur only on forward passes beyond the line of scrimmage and that “eligible offensive and defensive receivers have the same right to the path of the ball and are subject to the same restrictions” when the ball is in the air.

It isn’t clear what prompted the officials for Sunday’s game to call the pass interference penalty, as a pool report for the contest was not immediately made available.