Complaining on behalf of Trey Flowers and the Detroit Lions trended Tuesday, off the charts.

Servers were blown, frustration bubbled over and the National Football League’s incompetent officiating crews sit directly in the crosshairs thanks to the debacle that was Monday Night Football this week.

In my eyes, these guys have been, are and will be thoroughly brutal.

The missed pass interference call in the NFC title game with the Rams and Saints last January was simply the tipping point.

But what is going on in the NFL these days scares me, like I was scared for baseball in the 1980s.

Call it the Pereira Effect if you will. Mike Pereira was the first to make the official-to-TV leap. Since, he’s been joined by Gene Steratore and John Parry in the studios.

The egos are morphing at a cancerous pace among the men in stripes. It’s become painful and, yes, scary.

Honestly, it’s not the flags themselves.

Seriously, Flowers is a giant man working his craft at a lightning pace. Hands to the face, no hands to the face. Who knows?

Did the ex-Patriot graze Packer David Bakhtiari’s face mask? Maybe.

But watch the replay of the flag that sunk Flowers and the Lions, a third-and-10 at the Detroit 45, early in the fourth.

Don’t watch Flowers. Watch the official. He drops the flag late, like very late, after Aaron Rodgers goes down for an 11-yard sack – not by Flowers, by the way.

It’s not the flag. It’s how the flag is thrown.

I have noticed it more and more. The officials are bringing subjectivity to the equation.

If we were calling penalties by the book, I’m fine with it.

But like Thursday night in Foxborough.

Check out the holding call on Julian Edelman on Brandon Bolden’s 8-yard run against the Giants.

Bolden is gone if/when Edelman holds, and the flag is tossed in the wake of the play.

To me, that’s an official subjectively making way too much impact.

These officials all seem to have an attitude now that would make the recently retired Ed Hochuli seem humble.

It’s the kind of ego that had Terry Cooney toss Roger Clemens in a playoff game.

These guys enjoy being the story, for better or worse.

They wore Tom Brady calling them out on social media as a badge of honor.

Time to rein these guys in, just like baseball did.

Right now.

STRAY SHOTS

Why is Tom Brady taking so much heat for his performance vs. the Giants on Thursday night?

Brady, after a rough start, hit 20 of his last 23 throws for 211 yards, including the last six on the final, decisive drive of the first half. Sorry, his weapons are mediocre. TB42 is still rocking it in the pocket. …

Every time David Pastrnak or Brad Marchand do something good, are we going to hear, “Yeah, but where was it in Game 7?”

Lay off, folks. They had a rough Game 7, but it was the Stanley Cup Final. …

We constantly ask this about Boston. I leave you with this. Which Houston team is closest to a championship?

Astros, right? Nah. The Yankees will finish them in six.

Rockets? I’m a James Harden guy but, no.

So it must be the Texans? Not in our lifetime.

The answer is, of course, none of the above.

Contact Hector Longo at 594-1253 or hlongo@nashuatelegraph.com.

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