NEW YORK-Chris long was, like many of you NFL fans – confused about what he was watching.

“Yeah, I was sitting there just as dumbfounded as everyone else on Monday night when those two penalties cost Detroit it,” long told USA today sports on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, NFL Executive Vice President of football operations Troy Vincent said, “When you look at it and you review the game, it’s not what you want to see called in that particular pass rush” and that ” the foul was not.”

Long is not alone in his criticism of refereeing. Several players and coaches have complained this season, citing inconsistency in enforcement. In the spring of the annual meetings, the NFL property approved a measure to give coaches the ability to challenge pass interference calls, and non-calls should be reviewed and potentially canceled when there is “clear and obvious” evidence to support the cancellation.

On Wednesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the interference call rule is “what we expected.” In practice, however, only one problem has been undone so far this season.

“I don’t think refereeing is going to ruin the game, but it’s something they have to fix because one thing the NFL doesn’t like is all the noise that’s UN-incendiary from the social media and the media and the NFL will react,” long said. “They were reactive to holding calls spiking way up in the first month of the season. They should be reactive to some of these questions, too.

“In the (defensive pass interference) thing, less than 10 percent get undone, so coaches don’t throw flags in situations where it should be clearly DOI. It’s a mess right now, but it’s not going to ruin the game because people aren’t going to turn it off.”

Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield called the officiating “pretty bad” in Sunday’s 32-28 Cleveland loss against the Seattle Seahawks. New Orleans Saints defensive end Cam Jordan, after officials blasted a dead scoop and score fumble in week 2 and denied touchdowns, blasted a” Foot Locker ” crew of officials.

Long understands this, but believes that even with criticism, fans will tune in, calling football ” addictive.”

However, after the infamous missed other interference in last year’s NFC championship game almost certainly cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl, and after the missed call Monday night cost the lions a chance to win, there is a legitimate claim that the NFL product is suffering with refereeing errors.

“The lions are a good football team,” long said. “That’s the worst part about it. It could affect their playoff opportunities.”

Long spoke to USA today sports on behalf of Crown Royal, as part of its Water Break campaign, that advocates responsible alcohol consumption by taking a water break to stay hydrated.

Long, playing devil’s advocate, said adding another official in the booth to review all missed calls would result in a clean game, but acknowledged it would significantly slow the pace of the game.

“I think the NFL got a moving goal to hit and they got to hit it fast,” he said. “… They need to become more consistent.”