ESPN’s Marcus Spears: The NFL Needs to Address Anti-Defense Officiating Bias

Marcus Spears joined Rich from Philadelphia ahead of Cowboys-Eagles on Monday Night Football, and he came with opinions on everything: a Philly team losing its identity, a Dallas coach facing a line of demarcation, what Seattle did to Kansas City, the NFC and AFC pecking orders, and officiating that he believes has tilted too far against defenders.

What's at stake for the Eagles and Cowboys

Rich set the table with a joke: the Cowboys were four quarters away from making it officially Sixers season in Philadelphia. Spears did not disagree. "Philly not happy when they win games sometimes," he said, "so let alone being in this position."

Rich ran down the damage. The center who replaced Jason Kelce moved to guard and then to the Ravens. The all-world right tackle retired. The Super Bowl MVP quarterback is out for the season with blood clots. DeVonta Smith and another receiver were out for Monday night. "All of these moves that are made to win this year are now poof, up in smoke," Rich said. Win, and Philadelphia is a game under .500 with Tanner McKee, who has beaten Dallas before, and Saquon Barkley expected back. Lose, and at 2-5 the Eagles might start thinking about selling.

Spears called that realistic. Even with a successful season, he said, Howie Roseman had decisions coming. With AJ Brown gone, Lane Johnson retired and Jalen Hurts dealing with blood clots, "the identity of the team completely changed." He stressed that Hurts' health matters far more than football right now, and that what is missing goes beyond talent: "It's the leadership in the locker room. It's the guys that you can look in the huddle and say he's been here before and he can calm us all down."

On the Dallas side, Spears was blunt. "I think tonight will either get Brian Schottenheimer fired after this season or he'll continue to try to impress the rest of the way," he said. Dallas looked incompetent against Tampa Bay and got snuffed out in Green Bay, and offense is supposed to be Schottenheimer's area of expertise. "This is a line of demarcation for him," Spears said, adding that Jerry Jones "has no one to blame but himself" for taking a chance on a first-time head coach. Rich added that five losses before Halloween was not in the cards, and unlike Philadelphia, the Cowboys cannot blame injuries.

What Seattle exposed about the Chiefs

Spears' first thought on Seattle's dominant Sunday night win was Kenneth Walker, or more precisely, what happened when the Seahawks took him away. "Once they took him away, this looked like the Chiefs we've been watching for the last two years on offense," he said.

He acknowledged the questions about Kansas City's receivers, but pointed just as much to the pressure Patrick Mahomes faced. "He didn't play well," Spears said. "Just looked out of sorts." Once the Chiefs became one-dimensional, Seattle "absolutely suffocated" them.

As a former defensive player, Spears came away more impressed with the Seahawks than down on the Chiefs. "That looked like Seattle from last year that was putting people lights out and rolling on their way to a Super Bowl," he said. His broader point: teams can mask weaknesses for a while, but good coaches eventually find them, and Seattle was the worst possible defense to run into once the run game stalled. He still expects Kansas City to run the ball well more often than not, comparing a Chiefs offense without a run game to Steph Curry without the three-pointer. He also credited Sam Darnold, who outside of one crazy red-zone turnover took care of the football, and noted what JSN was able to do.

His NFC picks

Rich then put Spears "in a sports talk radio box." Seahawks, Niners, Bears or the field to win the NFC?

"Niners. I'm not off the Niners yet," Spears said. San Francisco went into its loss to Atlanta without Mike Evans and still had chances, and he credited the Falcons for a phenomenal interception at the end. His warning was about overreaction. "We know the difference in football games are usually three or four plays," he said. The catch, as always, is health. "If they are healthy, I still feel like this team is as hard to beat as anybody in the NFL."

In the NFC North, Rich offered the 6-0 Vikings, the five-win Bears or the Lions, who had just beaten the Packers. "I feel like I have to go with Minnesota," Spears said, citing its complementary football. When Rich pointed out that the Vikings' offense is hardly putting points on the board, Spears said it is doing enough to let the defense drown people out. Then came the twist. "My heart tells me Chicago," he said, "because I truly believe Chicago has the best player at the most important position in that division." He knows it sounds crazy with the way Jared Goff is playing, but he trusts Caleb Williams to go beyond the X's and O's in critical games. He still has some worry about the Chicago defense, even with Dennis Allen creating pressure and turnovers.

The officiating problem for defenders

Rich asked about the roughing calls against Green Bay: Devonte Wyatt flagged while Amon-Ra St. Brown's foot contacted an official, and Brenton Cox appearing to be pushed by Penei Sewell into the quarterback.

Spears said he has raised the issue in NFL meetings and understands officials are erring on the side of caution, but he wants room for the human element. "That wasn't roughing. That was textbook how you tackle the quarterback," he said of one call, and of the other, "I saw Penei Sewell pull you down, and you actually tried all you could to not hit Jared Goff."

The St. Brown call bothered him most. "The ref got in his feelings," Spears said. "To throw a flag from your back without having full context of what transpired is crazy."

Then he went further. "This league and these refs are allowing offensive players so much leeway before they blow the whistle dead that it becomes almost for a defender, like, 'I don't know when to stop tackling this guy,'" he said. He has watched momentum stopped with no whistle, and ball carriers pushed forward by linemen. And if a defender lets up and the runner scores, "we all going to come on television talking about, well, Green Bay couldn't tackle."

Rich agreed and argued replay assist should help officials pick up flags in situations like this. Spears called officiating one of the hardest jobs in sports, but said fans and players get frustrated by the egregious ones, pointing to Xavier McKinney reaching the point where he did not care about a fine. Spears also noted that a defender who does everything textbook can get flagged and then "may be getting a FedEx." Rich predicted the next defensive penalty coming down the pike: the peanut punch, which he said sometimes lands like a right cross. Spears' response was simple: "It's a contact sport."

The AFC, and a word on Cincinnati

For the AFC, Spears picked Buffalo. When the Bills lean into James Cook as the bell cow, he said, they are as hard to beat as anybody. "Josh Allen is unstoppable. He's inevitable," he said, as long as he avoids the critical turnovers, and he credited what Joe Brady is doing offensively.

He closed with a warning about the Bengals. Lamar Jackson did not play, he acknowledged, but Joe Burrow and that offense scoring 35 points in the second half "is what you feel like they can do majority of the time." His advice: "Be on the lookout for Cincinnati."