FanHouse Pete Morelli

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell can give all the pep talks he wants, but the fact is that there have been an awful lot of bad calls by NFL officials this year.

So it's really saying something that the officiating of a Tony Romo fumble by referee Pete Morelli in today's Cowboys-Cardinals game might have been the worst call of the year.

This is rich. I'm not one to bellyache about the officiating -- no matter the sport, it's usually pretty atrocious -- but I found this comment from referee Pete Morelli particularly galling farcical:

Bears defensive lineman Alex Brown sacked [Jon] Kitna in the first quarter of the Lions' 16-7 victory Sunday at Soldier Field. Replays showed Brown grabbed Kitna's mask.

Grabbing the face mask is a penalty, even if it's accidental. Kitna complained immediately about the play to referee Peter Morelli. One of the referee's primary jobs is to watch the quarterback.

" 'I can't see everything' -- that's what he said," Kitna said Monday.

Awesome. "I can't see everything." Well, that explains this, I suppose. Morelli's only human, only has two eyes, can't be two places at once, and so on and so forth.

The bigger issues, for Kitna anyway, is that he feels he's taking a lot of illegal hits that are going uncalled. Part of me finds that shocking since officials are throwing flags at even the hint of any impropriety (Morelli and his two eyeballs notwithstanding, of course).

But then I remembered that the Lions' offensive coordinator is Mike Martz. You know, the guy who isn't afraid to put his quarterback in harm's way at the expense of a big play.

My advice to Kitna: pray about it. God likes him ... how else do you explain this.