Oh I forgot to mention the other part of this that was complete bullshit. Idk if they showed it on TV, but on the replay on the stadium screen, there were two refs that each came in to mark the spot on the down. One marked it just ahead of the first down marker, the other nearly a yard behind that (well behind the line to gain).
The one that marked it behind starts running in a straight line, with his hand up, correctly marking it behind the line to gain, then he sees where the other ref marked it (ahead of the line to gain) and changes his path to diagonal to line up with where that other ref spotted it.