Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Joey Bosa did not hold back after the team’s 28-14 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, calling game officials “blind” and believing they should have thrown a flag for holding late in the game.
Bosa’s on-the-field fury did not, however, go unnoticed, and he was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for his reaction.
“I didn’t even know they called the f---ing penalty on me because I was fuming,” Bosa told reporters. “But, I mean, refs are blind. Simple. I’m sorry, but you’re blind. Like, open your eyes and do your job. It’s so bad it’s unbelievable.”
The play unfolded when Raiders quarterback Derek Carr threw an incomplete pass on first down at the Las Vegas 37-yard line with just under four minutes left. Bosa protested that a lineman had held him while blocking on the play. With the Raiders trailing by 14, Bosa’s penalty moved the ball to the Los Angeles 48-yard line.
Advertisement
“Fifteen yards, it’s a big deal,” said Bosa, who recorded his 50th career sack in the game. “Obviously that’s on me. I should never lose my temper like that, but these guys have got to do a better job because it’s been years of terrible missed calls left and right. It’s really pathetic, honestly, but pathetic on me, too, for doing what I did. Call or not, I have to take a step back and just go to the next play, but, man, they seem not to have their eyes open half the time.”
Two plays later, Chargers safety Derwin James intercepted Carr’s pass and the Chargers were all but assured of a win in a game that had significant stakes for the up-and-coming team. The 3-1 Chargers have beaten division rivals Kansas City and Las Vegas on successive Sundays and have lost only to Dallas. The Chargers are now tied with the Denver Broncos and Raiders atop the AFC West.
The comments from Bosa, the third pick in the 2016 draft, all but guarantee a hefty fine from the NFL and comparisons to his younger brother, Nick, who plays for the San Francisco 49ers. The second pick in the 2019 draft, Nick Bosa apologized in April of that year for social media posts he had made over the previous six years, including one in which he called former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick a clown. In other instances, he appeared to have “liked” homophobic and racist posts. The tweet about Kaepernick drew attention at the time from President Donald Trump.
Advertisement
“I definitely made some insensitive decisions throughout my life,” Nick Bosa said then. “I’m just excited to be here with a clean slate. I’m sorry if I hurt anybody. I definitely didn’t intend for that to be the case. But I think me being here is even better for me as a person because I don’t think there’s any city that will help you grow as much as this one will. I’m going to be surrounded with people, all different kinds. I’m going to grow as a person.”
He went on to say his social media comment “wasn’t directed” at Kaepernick over the former quarterback’s decision to kneel to raise awareness of social injustice and police brutality: “It’s not like I’m saying his stance and what he was doing — that’s not what I was talking about at all. It was just a specific thing that happened, and me, as a young kid, a thought popping into my head and, boom, decided to tweet it out. Bad decision. I respect what he’s done. If it empowers anybody, then he’s doing a good thing. I apologize for that.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqmhqYGd%2BcH2PaGduZ5qksrp5waiqmmWTp7a1tcKisZ6rXaSzp7XCopilq18%3D