NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league’s officiating this season has been “extraordinary.” ADVERTISING NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league’s officiating this season has been “extraordinary.” I doubt the Baltimore Ravens share his belief. In Week 7, the Ronald
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league’s officiating this season has been “extraordinary.”
I doubt the Baltimore Ravens share his belief.
In Week 7, the Ronald Torbert crew whiffed on a legal substitution by the Ravens in the red zone, penalizing an offensive lineman who reported legally. That wiped out a six-yard reception by that player to the Arizona 7. The first-quarter penalty moved Baltimore back to the Arizona 18 and the Ravens wound up settling for a field goal rather than a touchdown in a 26-18 loss to the Cardinals.
In Week 10, the Pete Morelli crew blew a call that directly cost the Ravens a victory. Jacksonville should have been penalized for a false start on a play that quarterback Blake Bortles was sacked in the game’s closing seconds.
Jaguars offensive tackle Luke Joeckel was not set on the play, the NFL later admitted, and had the flag been thrown, there would have been a 10-second run off against Jacksonville that would have ended the game. Instead, the Jaguars were allowed to line up for a 53-yard field goal by Jason Meyers for a 22-20 victory.
And those crews aren’t alone.
In Week 4, the Tony Corrente crew failed to flag Seattle for illegally batting a ball out of the end zone against Detroit in the closing minutes. The NFL later admitted that the correct call would have given the Lions the ball and a first down at the Seattle 1. But the call on the field gave the Seahawks possession on a touchback, allowing them to escape with a 13-10 victory.
In Week 5, the Morelli crew inexplicably let 18 seconds wind off the clock on a kickoff touchback in the closing minutes as Pittsburgh was attempting to rally against San Diego. The Steelers overcame those lost seconds, though, when Le’Veon Bell scored on a one-yard run on the final play of the game for a 24-20 victory.
In Week 11, the Gene Steratore crew blew an inadvertent whistle as a sprinting Tom Brady was nearing the sideline, wiping out a potential touchdown pass against Buffalo. Danny Amendola caught Brady’s 14-yard pass at the New England 45 and had an open field in front of him. But the whistle ended the play at the spot of the catch. The Patriots wound up missing a 54-yard field goal on the possession in a 20-13 victory over the Bills.
“We strive for perfection,” Goodell said. “We strive for consistency. We’re not always going to get that, but we’re always going to try to get that.”
Goodell maintains the officiating is the same as it’s ever been. NFL owners were told at their meeting in Dallas this week that, through 11 weekends this season, officials have been getting 95 percent of the calls correctly. The NFL’s director of officiating Dean Blandino says there are an average of 4.5 officiating mistakes every game — essentially, the same as it’s always been.
But there’s one big difference between the officiating of 2015 and that of, say, five years ago.
“The technology is changing,” Goodell said. “It’s giving us the opportunity to see things we never saw before.”
It’s also given the millions upon millions of NFL fans sitting at home on their couches a new perspective. There are bigger television screens now in homes with higher definition. There also are more replays, better replays. In 2010, NBC used 21 cameras on its Sunday night broadcasts. Now the network uses 25 cameras. ESPN uses 28 cameras on Monday nights and introduced pylon cameras and new ultra-slow motion cameras this season.
So there is greater scrutiny on every call in every game, and any officiating mistakes are magnified. The blown calls in the Seattle, San Diego, Arizona and Buffalo games all occurred in national Monday night telecasts. A nation’s eyes are on the one game, all eyes are any officiating mistakes and, as a result, the officiating has been branded as inept this season.
My problem with the officiating isn’t necessarily the missed call as it is the inconsistency of the calls. There is a 70-penalty difference between the high crew (Jerome Boger, 186) and the low crew (Bill Vinovich, 116) this season.
Understand that you can throw a flag at someone, somewhere on virtually every snap in the NFL. But that doesn’t mean you have to. If the penalty impacts the play, toss the flag. If it doesn’t, let it go. Five years ago, officials called an average of 12.1 penalties per game for 101.7 yards. This season, officials are calling an average of 14.2 penalties per game for 120.7 yards.
In the second week of the season, there were 289 penalties assessed for 2,659 yards. Both were NFL single-week records. The Cowboys were penalized a franchise-record 18 times that weekend. The Cleveland Browns were penalized 188 yards in an October game this season against Pittsburgh — the most penalty yardage assessed against one team in one game since 2000.
With the bigger television screens with higher definition, all flags now have greater scrutiny. As do the non-flags. All calls now have greater scrutiny. As do the non-calls. And every mistake is magnified like it’s never been magnified before.
But there is one constant. Those officiating crews remain pro football’s favorite scapegoat, whether they officiate in an “extraordinary” fashion or not.
