J.J. Watt takes aim at the NFL's Joe Mixon fine misadventure

J.J. Watt gets it.

The CBS analyst, who in his short time as a broadcaster likely has learned that certain comments will prompt a call from 345 Park Avenue to the bosses, pulled no punches when criticizing the league's boneheaded mistake regarding Texans running back Joe Mixon.

Earlier this week, the league fined Mixon $25,000 for publicly criticizing officials. The only problem? He didn’t say what he allegedly said; someone else did. When the NFL realized the error, it simply re-issued the fine, citing something Mixon had actually said — something that was much more innocuous.

On Friday, Watt retweeted our initial story on the matter with this observation: "This has not received enough attention. . . . He got fined for something he didn’t say. Publicly complained about it (correctly). Then got fined for that. What are we doing here?"

What they're doing is whatever they want to do. What they're doing is making it up as they go.

What they're doing will only make more people leery about what's really going on behind the curtain when it comes to officiating.

No, it's not rigged. Yes, greater transparency (and less heavy-handedness in response to criticism) would help persuade people to remove their tinfoil hats and realize that mistakes are the product of incompetence, not conspiracy.

Instead of fixing the problems that lead to officiating mistakes, the NFL is far more interested in silencing those who would dare to point them out.

Fortunately, Watt welcomes whatever blowback he might get, if/when someone from the league office whines about it to CBS executives.