NFL suspends umpire Roy Ellison for conduct toward Trent Williams

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NFL umpire Roy Ellison did indeed make profane and derogatory statements toward Washington offensive lineman Trent Williams on Sunday, and now Ellison will be disciplined.

The league has announced that Ellison is suspended without pay for one game for using inappropriate language toward Williams.

The suspension comes after Williams said following Sunday’s game that Ellison had called him “garbage [expletive] disrespectful [expletive]” during the game. Former NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira revealed this week that it wasn’t the first time Ellison had been accused of abusive language toward players, and that Pereira himself had previously warned Ellison that it better not happen again.

When it did happen again, the NFL had no choice but to act. And now Ellison will sit this week out.

53 responses to “NFL suspends umpire Roy Ellison for conduct toward Trent Williams

  1. I would rather have them cussing my team out up and down for 60 minutes as opposed to them making a call that impacts the outcome of the game (or the season).Lets start suspending those officials

  2. Wow. Did not see that coming. If he lets his emotions get the best of him that easily, how can we trust him to call a game impartially?

  3. So, Brady cusses out official on national tv on camera…no fine.

    Trent Williams says an official says something who in turn says Williams also said something – during game when everyone acknowledges there are curse words thrown around all day and there is no audio (let alone audio and video) – the official gets suspended.

  4. One game. One stinking game?! Wow.

    The NFL needs to realize that people are already highly skeptical that referees are A) competent and B) impartial.

    There’s no way Ellison can ever be considered impartial again. Every call he makes or doesn’t make will be questionable. Being an NFL ref REQUIRES being beyond reproach — something now impossible for Ellison — and so yes, he should have been permanently banned from the NFL.

  5. Assuming this means he’s never going to do another Redskins game? Because the risks of him taking revenge with a bunch of phantom flags would be huge.

  6. Has anyone checked with his teammates to indeed confirm if Williams is “garbage [expletive] disrespectful [expletive]”? I’m no lawyer, but Ump may have a case. It’s not slander if it true, right Flo’rio?

  7. All he told him was that he was a friggan disgrace and embarrassing himself by letting Trent Cole manhandle him like a little [expletive] all game.

  8. Everyone deserves a second chance, IMHO. Hopefully Ellison will do a better job monitoring his mouth and emotions.

  9. I wish this guy would ref a Dallas game and yell at my Cowboys like that because Jason Garrett sure as hell wont…

  10. Being a ref is a tough thankless job. Players are allowed to cuss at the refs, and the refs just have to take it.

    How many of you armchair quarterbacks think you could handle being harassed by players and fans without saying anything back? Ya, I didn’t think so.

  11. phinatic29 says: Nov 22, 2013 4:49 PM

    Trent Williams should get a $50K bonus for every time he smokes Richard Sherman upside the head.

    #thatwasawesome
    ————

    It was a rhymes with snitch move.

  12. Incognito thinks this ref needs to be suspended with BULLYING for 4 games w/o pay…….

    JMart has called Trent Williams to offer a fellow bullying VICTIM his condolences and his teddy bear!

    #FREE-INCOGNITO

  13. So they’ll suspend a ref for talking inappropriately, but they won’t suspend them when they can’t do the job they were hired to do. There have been some epically bad officiated games this season and none of them ever get suspended. Ron Winters and his crew should have been fired yrs. ago. That guy is so bad, the NFL should be embarrassed to employ him.

  14. What a joke.. The NFL, aka, King Roger, is acting so sanctimonious… Do they, the NFL, expect us mere mortals to believe that all the dialogue on a football field is of the choirboy ilk?? Come on man!!!

  15. Haha, finally some discipline towards the blind zebras! I love it! Now if the NFL could just start to suspend them for blown or bad calls. I bet if Goodell instituted a policy like that, take away a game check or nail em with a fine, you’d NEVER have any officiating controversies. Its getting worse and worse, almost every week. Threaten the refs where it hurts-their pocketbook!

  16. Unbelievable that this guy didn’t get fired. How are we supposed to trust a man who cusses out certain players to call an unbiased game?

    But judging by the flag on Ahmad Brooks versus the no flag on Matt Ryan taking a forearm to the head, the NFL doesn’t really care about unbiased officiating.

  17. blowpackblow says:
    Nov 22, 2013 4:29 PM
    I wish Goodell would suspend himself
    —————
    Goodell wouldn’t have anything to do with this suspension you idiot. I wish Goodell could suspend you as a fan.

  18. PEM34,

    According to earlier stories there is audio of the incident. I read that the skins had all linemen mic’d for the game. I don’t think they’d suspend the guy if it was all heresay. I hope the audio is released.

  19. He should be banned for life for hurting the players feelings. Goodell should suspend himself.

  20. seattlelibtard says: Nov 22, 2013 4:57 PM

    Being a ref is a tough thankless job. Players are allowed to cuss at the refs, and the refs just have to take it.

    How many of you armchair quarterbacks think you could handle being harassed by players and fans without saying anything back? Ya, I didn’t think so.
    __________________________________

    Great point.

    I jokingly tell people that if I had known that officiating is more about people management than it is simply learning the rules and making calls, I wouldn’t have ever gotten into refereeing. But the hardest thing about officiating, IMHO, is keeping your cool when others around you have lost theirs. Yes, it’s tough to simply “take an earful.” But officials have their own tools for dealing with it. Losing your cool and cursing out a player is not in the officials’ toolkit. Assuming since there was a suspension that he is guilty, he deserved to be suspended. Hopefully he learns and, in the future, finds a better way to deal with angry and emotional players.

  21. Really? The league is just so soft these days. Trent can punch Richard Sherman in the face with no consequence, but when he whines about being called some “mean words” by an official, he can’t take it. I rather see the players who complain about referees cussing get suspended than the referees themselves. This is a violent sport. There will be offensive language.

  22. Glad Goodell acted. Refs are an almost unchecked authority figure at all levels.

    Btw, he was not suspended for cursing, but for calling someone a # twice. If NFL players said the same thing back to the refs…oh say to the head ref when his mic was on… he would be punished too.

    I agree that they should be fined or something for blown calls, too

  23. Naw, I agree w Trent Williams. Refs shouldn’t be calling out players, what the Hell is that?? Bizzarre, that’s what… This ain’t High School, refs should NOT be offering up criticism/talking smack at players!

  24. I have no problem with suspending Ellison ,but I’m a little concerned that Pereira’s story about Ellison’s conduct seemed almost to be gospel for the league. There is no problem with him sharing the story with the viewers,after all that’s his job,but the league doesn’t have the right to use it as a ‘second ‘ act. After all, there could be an impropriety due to the way Pereira feels about some refs as opposed to others if Blandino chooses to use Pereira’s take in order to administer discipline.

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