Aaron Rodgers “cussed out” an official against Cowboys yet was not penalized for “abusive language”

The Dallas Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday. They got beat handily and there isn’t a singular moment or transgression that anyone can point to that can prove how the Cowboys should have won. They were outplayed.

There was one detail to the game though that should concern fans of all football teams, the Cowboys and Packers fan bases among them. NFL officiating has been quite poor across all games through five weeks as we’ve seen questionable calls seemingly game in and game out. This was absolutely the case for Dallas and Green Bay.

Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari drew the game’s first two penalties as he was called for a false start and holding penalty on Green Bay’s first possession. Bakhtiari does a weekly radio appearance on 105.7 The Fan and on Tuesday discussed how he felt that the holding call against him was one of the worst that he’s ever been called for in his life.

“That holding call has got to go down as one of the worst holding calls I have ever been called for in my entire life. To a point where I made him tell me his reasoning, to which I got in response, ‘I played defensive end, there’s no way Aaron Rodgers is out-running Robert Quinn.’”

“To such point I then tattletaled on the ref to Aaron because most refs are, you know, they like to have good relations with quarterbacks, especially ones that will go down as some of the best of all-time.”

“To then such credit, Aaron cusses him out, to then he comes to me and says, ‘Did you really just rat me out to Aaron?’ to I responding ‘You just ratted me out to America.’ Then he’s laughing and then asks me ‘Was it really that bad of me to call a holding call on that?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely.’”

“I have no problem admitting if I do do it. It happens. I play a lot of games. I’ve done a lot of plays. It’s bound to happen, it will happen again.”

This seems like quite the overreaction from Bakhtiari, especially when you re-watch the play. While it was certainly not the most egregious holding penalty to ever occur in the National Football League you can clearly see him grab the side of Robert Quinn’s helmet.

Bakhtiari admits that Aaron Rodgers “cussed out” an official, though

Perhaps the most ridiculous penalty of the game was actually called against Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett. By now you’re well-familiar with what happened. Amari Cooper made a catch, the official incorrectly ruled it not a catch, and Jason Garrett had to challenge it as a result. Considering it was his last remaining challenge he was bothered that he had to waste it on something that seemed so obvious to everyone on the Cowboys sideline.

After the game was over referee Ron Torbert explained the unsportsmanlike conduct that was handed down to Jason Garrett rather matter-of-factly. He didn’t say much and simply stated that Jason Garrett used “abusive language” towards an official.

If you carefully read what David Bakhtiari told 105.7 The Fan, he literally said that Aaron Rodgers “cussed out” the official after Bakhtiari told Rodgers the reasoning for which he had been called for holding. Read it again.

“To such point I then tattletaled on the ref to Aaron because most refs are, you know, they like to have good relations with quarterbacks, especially ones that will go down as some of the best of all-time.”

“To then such credit, Aaron cusses him out, to then he comes to me and says, ‘Did you really just rat me out to Aaron?’ to I responding ‘You just ratted me out to America.’ Then he’s laughing and then asks me ‘Was it really that bad of me to call a holding call on that?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely.’”

So how is it then that when Aaron Rodgers “cussed out” an official it was not considered “abusive language” but when Jason Garrett said whatever he did (the exact specifics we do not and likely never will know) he was?

It’s hard to have a full understanding of this given that we don’t know exactly what was said by Jason Garrett, but Aaron Rodgers cussing out an official, specifically due to a penalty being called on his teammate of all things, seems equally flagrant in the grand scheme of things. Consider that Jason Garrett was protesting having to burn his final challenge on what was an obvious thing while Aaron Rodgers was complaining about a rightful penalty called on Bakhtiari.