There’s been a lot of discussion about adding an official to NFL crews in recent years and that discussion has centered on having them fill an off-field, sky judge role to aid in making sure no egregious errors happen on the field.
No proposals to add those officials have been adopted and Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson offered a different view on expanding officiating crews Thursday. Peterson told reporters that he thinks there should be more than seven officials on the field of play.
The impetus for Peterson’s push was a pass interference penalty he was called for in last Sunday’s loss to Miami. Peterson said the official told him “it looked like you was engaged with” DeVante Parker, who made a 17-yard catch on the play, and Peterson countered by saying the official couldn’t see Parker.
“What I’m proposing to the league: We need more refs on the field to officiate the game if the back judge can’t see the receivers, so now the DB is at a disadvantage,” Peterson said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. “I almost think he’s not refereeing the game properly. He’s just not seeing the whole game, so we need more eyes to help these guys.”
Peterson said the league needs more eyes on the field “if we want the game officiated to go evenly both ways,” but ther doesn’t appear to be a groundswell of support for the idea at this point.