The NFL’s decision to change protocols for the playoffs to allow more communication between the referee and the league officiating office is being met with skepticism by the man who used to run the league officiating office.
Mike Pereira, the former NFL head of officiating who now serves as a commentator for FOX, said it may prove problematic to have referees talking to the league office. Pereira said trust in the officials can be undermined if people think someone in New York is telling the on-field refs what to do during a game.
“Basically, what it looks like is that the league office is making decisions on who possibly wins or loses the game,” Pereira told ESPN. “You could go back to the old theory of the conspiracy of the Raiders, that the league didn’t like [former owner] Al Davis and all the stuff that went along with it. All of a sudden, decisions that were being made on the field or in the stadium, all of a sudden are being made in the league office. That seems to be the wave of where this is going. Things have changed so much, but this . . . strive for perfection really isn’t attainable.”
Pereira has said he thinks referees already get more input from the replay assistant than the league lets on, and he believes the league office’s involvement with calls on the field goes beyond the input Dean Blandino has during replay reviews. The league hopes that having another set of eyes on the game will improve officiating, but Pereira worries that it’s just adding more bureaucracy, and more opportunities for players, coaches, fans and the media to lose trust in the officials.