SEATTLE -- Anquan Boldin knows he shouldn’t have done it. He’s been in the league too long, faced too many opponents. He should have restrained himself.
In the moment, though, he lost his cool. Boldin claims Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Jarran Reed hit him out of bounds. Boldin retaliated and then was flagged.
“As I’m going out of bounds, a guy hit me, a guy on their sideline,” Boldin said. “And the ref is standing right there and you don’t call it. I shouldn’t have retaliated. It is what it is.”
It was a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty and it lost field position for the Detroit Lions. It was one of three unnecessary roughness flags Lions veteran players picked up Saturday night in their 26-6 loss to Seattle -- two for Boldin and one for defensive tackle Haloti Ngata.
Boldin didn’t seem to understand why he was flagged the second time at all. He said he was blocking on the play and no one had blown the whistle. Boldin said the Seahawks player he was blocking looked at the official and then a flag was thrown.
Some Lions had issues with how the officials called the game, although it was something they said they expected.
“We expected that, to be honest with you,” Boldin said. “There were some calls that left us shaking our head. I’m sure you guys know exactly what I’m talking about but it is what it is. Anytime you come into a place like this, you know you’re going to have to play more than just the team.”
Boldin said the Lions discussed officiating in the week leading up to the wild-card playoff game and that they couldn’t -- and shouldn’t -- have let it affect their play. He said the Lions expected to get unfavorable calls because they believe they have gotten them all season long.
“We knew that. We knew that,” said tight end Eric Ebron when asked about calls going against the Lions. “When has it?”
The Lions have had some questionable calls go against them, but they’ve been the beneficiary of favorable calls late in games as well. Penalties were fairly even during the game, with Detroit flagged seven times for 68 yards and Seattle six times for 40 yards.
Besides the unnecessary roughness flags, the Lions were unhappy with a facemask penalty that wasn't called on Paul Richardson during his one-handed circus catch for a touchdown in the first half. There was another noncall in the fourth quarter for defensive pass interference on a long pass from Matthew Stafford to TJ Jones.
Officials deemed it an uncatchable ball, but Jones believed it was “very catchable” since it landed less than a couple of yards in front of him. Jones said there “was a little bit” of holding, but nothing too egregious. Stafford also seemed to indicate he believed a flag should have been thrown on the play.
“I’m not going to speak on the ref’s action, "Jones said. "It’s not going to do anything good now to blame it on them or blame the loss on bad calls. So, yeah, it’s kind of a play that I’ll go back and watch over and over again to see if I agree with the call they made and we’ll just go from there and work on it next year.”
But some Lions believe this is just the way it is going to be for them.
“If you go over Detroit’s history, officiating is never usually in our favor, per se,” defensive end Devin Taylor said. “For most of us that have been here for all that, this is nothing new to experience.
“Anyone that has been here knows that you have to keep playing through calls and just try to make another play.”
In the end, the Lions didn’t make nearly enough plays in Seattle and that -- not officiating -- is one of the reasons Detroit's season is over.