Barry Sanders Rips Lions vs. Packers Refs, Calls Late Penalties 'Sickening'

Hall of Fame running back and Detroit Lions legend Barry Sanders is not happy the officials potentially cost his former team the game during the Green Bay Packers' 23-22 victory on Monday night.  

Sanders expressed his frustration accordingly:

The "phantom hands to the face calls" Sanders referenced were both called on defensive end Trey Flowers in critical moments during the Packers' final two drives of the game.

The first came when Aaron Rodgers was sacked on a 3rd-down play with less than 11 minutes remaining and extended a drive that would otherwise have ended with a Packers punt. Green Bay was trailing by nine, but the penalty moved the chains and eventually led to a touchdown.

The second came with the Packers trailing by two on another 3rd-down play with less than two minutes remaining. Rodgers threw an incomplete pass to stop the clock, but the penalty allowed the home team to keep the ball and run the time all the way down before kicking the winning field goal instead of settling for the kick and leaving the Lions plenty of time to answer.

The Lions likely would have won if the first penalty wasn't called because they would have received the ball with a two-score lead in the fourth quarter. The second one prevented Matthew Stafford from attacking the Packers secondary one more time with the game on the line.

Stafford finished 18-of-32 for 265 yards, zero touchdowns and zero interceptions, and he connected on a number of deep balls over the top. However, the zero touchdowns came back to haunt the visitors, who settled for five field goals instead of capitalizing on their ability to move the ball with ease between the 20-yard lines.

The officials will rightly receive much of the attention for the abysmal performance down the stretch, but Detroit could have put the game away well before Green Bay's final two drives.

On the other side, Rodgers deserves plenty of credit for directing a win even though Davante Adams was sidelined with an injury and Geronimo Allison left with his own ailment. Despite consistent dropped passes from his receiving corps, Rodgers finished 24-of-39 for 283 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

His performance, along with plenty of help from the refs, means the Packers are in first place in the NFC North at 5-1.