Al Michaels had enough with the officiating in the Ravens-Bengals thriller Thursday night.
The Amazon play-by-play man let out his frustration after the Ravens got away with two penalties on the Bengals’ game-deciding two-point attempt in the fourth quarter while trailing, 35-34.
First, rules analyst Terry McAulay, a former NFL official for 20 years and three-time Super Bowl referee, explained how they screwed up in missing penalties against quarterback Joe Burrow and tight end Mike Gesicki.
“It was clearly defensive holding (on Gesicki) before the pass was in flight. It should’ve been called, and that does look like forceable contact to the head of the quarterback. That’s roughing the passer,” McAulay said while a replay showed Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike grabbing Burrow’s facemask.
Michaels wasn’t happy about it.
“Too many games end this way. They just do,” he said. “You miss calls — the whole thing. It’s so frustrating… so frustrating.”
Two weeks ago — on another Amazon game Michaels called — the Vikings’ chance of a comeback was spoiled on a clear Rams’ facemask on Sam Darnold that was missed by refs.
It instead was a safety that secured Los Angeles’ win.
The Bengals went for two late while attempting to win the game.
Burrow failed to connect with tight end Tanner Hudson on the attempt, throwing his pass a little too high.
The game was over for Bengals when the Ravens recovered the onside kick to secure the one-point victory in the intense back-and-forth game between AFC North rivals.
The Ravens rallied after the Bengals jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the third quarter.
