NFL: MORE THAN 97% OF PLAYS ARE CORRECTLY OFFICIATED

Has NFL officiating been worse than usual this season? Or does it just seem like it because of a few high-profile blown calls, most notably by Ed Hochuli Week 2 in Denver? Unsurprisingly, the league says its officiating is strong, and that the numbers show more than 97 percent of plays are called correctly. Judy Battista of the New York Times reports that heading into this weekend’s games, the NFL’s grading has found that 97.64 percent of plays were called correctly. That compares to an accuracy rate of 97.78 percent in 2007. Mike Pereira, the NFL’s director of officiating, acknowledges that the league’s officiating isn’t perfect but says it’s about as close as it can get. “I’ve never seen a game that didn’t have incomplete passes or fumbles or interceptions,” Pereira said. “Once officiating gets in the public eye, then it’s going to be there for a while. No matter if it’s better than in the past or worse. Officiating is a mental exercise that involves judgment that is difficult. It is imperfect.” No one seriously expects the human beings who officiate NFL games to get every single call exactly right. But is 97 or 98 percent accuracy -- which translates to about four missed calls a game -- good enough? To fans who saw Jay Cutler’s fumble ruled an incompletion, or Reggie Bush’s facemask get twisted, or a Broncos player blatantly line up offside, or a Falcons return man avoid touching a punt, the officials still aren’t accurate enough.