The Indianapolis Colts suffered a heartbreaking 39-38 loss in Week 7 to the Cleveland Browns. The loss was especially tough because it was marred by controversy. During Cleveland’s game-winning drive, Indianapolis cornerback Darrell Baker Jr. received two questionable penalties. The first overturned a turnover that would’ve sealed a victory for the Colts, and the second set the Browns up on the one-yard line, where they’d eventually punch in the game-winning score.
Team owner Jim Irsay, who’s usually outspoken about everything, didn’t immediately make any comments on the controversial calls. That changed on Tuesday night. Irsay took to social media to announce a couple of things. His first order of business was announcing that rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson underwent surgery and that everything went according to plan. Then, things got interesting.
URGENT NFL/COLTS NEWS:
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) October 25, 2023
🏈 #5 QB Anthony Richardson’s surgery today in LA was a success! It was a long procedure and his shoulder injury has been repaired. No new surprises were found during surgery - they just repaired what was expected. Anthony is doing well and thanks everyone…
Irsay revealed that the NFL admitted to the team that the referees didn’t make the right calls at the end of Sunday’s game. Irsay then made the case for the league to implement instant replay for all calls in the final two minutes of games. While this announcement vindicated Colts fans, and Irsay’s proposal is something that a lot of people can get on board with, he may have broken a league rule.
Shortly after Irsay’s post, NFL insider Tom Pelissero reported that the league does communicate with teams about calls each week, however, team officials are prohibited from talking about those discussions publicly. Since that’s exactly what Irsay did, it’s possible that Indy’s owner could be facing some repercussions.
The NFL communicates with teams on a weekly basis about various calls. Team officials are prohibited from commenting publicly on those discussions. Now, a team owner has publicly said the league admitted to officiating mistakes. Stay tuned …
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 25, 2023
Jim Irsay says NFL admits to making wrong calls in Colts vs. Browns game
Jim Irsay knows the rules of the league but he also has never been afraid to speak his mind. This could be Irsay’s latest example of stepping on the front lines to demand change. Almost weekly, in multiple games, referees are making bad calls that impact the outcome of games. It seems like Irsay is tired of it and wants to see change. If breaking a rule and airing the league out publicly gets that done, so be it.
NFL insider Ian Rapoport said his educated guess is that the league will have a response. It’ll be interesting to see if the NFL actually serves some type of punishment to Irsay, and what that punishment will be. It’ll also be interesting to see if Irsay’s idea of reviewing every call, including penalties, in the final two minutes gets instituted.