The NFL told its officials to call holding more strictly. For one week, they did. And then they stopped.
As former NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira revealed on FOX during a game, the league sent its officials a video before Week 13 showing several plays on which the NFL said the officials missed holding calls. The officials responded exactly the way you’d expect: They called more holding penalties the next week.
According to ESPN, there were 94 flags for offensive holding called in Week 13, the most in any week of any season since at least 2012. Clearly, the officials got the message: Call more holding.
Except that the very next week, Week 14, the holding calls dropped back down to 62, which is within the normal range.
So for one week, the NFL told its officials to crack down on holding, the officials complied, and then the very next week they just forgot all about it and went back to calling holding like usual. And people wonder why fans think NFL officiating is inconsistent.