Former NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira says the man currently in that job almost doesn’t have a chance to succeed.
Pereira says that current head of officiating Al Riveron has been thrown in a nearly impossible situation by the rule around replay review for pass interference.
“It’s a significant crisis brought on by this pass interference rule,” Pereira told Jarrett Bell of USA Today. “It set up Al Riveron for failure. They’re trying to use a different standard for replays versus what is actually the standard on the field. What is gray is even more gray.”
Pereira says that Riveron, as the first head of officiating who’s making the final decision on replay reviews and the first to review pass interference, has a harder job than any other head of officiating.
“I feel badly for Al,” Pereira said. “This [pass interference rule] has made his job tougher than my job ever was. And it’s tougher than it ever was for Dean Blandino, Carl Johnson, Jerry Seeman or Art McNally.”
Riveron has taken a lot of criticism from fans and the media this season, but Pereira seems to think anyone in that job would be similarly criticized.
