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Metro Detroit billboards protest NFL refs

Posted at 12:26 PM, Oct 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-17 12:28:27-04

DETROIT — A group of Detroit Lions fans are taking their frustrations with NFL officiating to billboards around metro Detroit.

The billboards show a referee doing the signal to indicate a hands to the face penalty while wearing a cheesehead.

Lions defensive end Trey Flowers was called for two such penalties in Monday night’s loss against Green Bay, which helped extend what turned out to be scoring drives for the Packers. Flowers hadn’t been flagged for the penalty in his five-year career before that game.

The NFL has since admitted one of the penalties shouldn’t have been called against Flowers. The league said the second penalty, which gave Green Bay a first down and allowed them to wind the clock down to kick the game-winning field goal as time expired, was a mistake.

WXYZ reports the billboards will run through the end of the week.

On Tuesday, Michigan State Police tweeted a poster of NFL officials wanted for stealing a game.