End of the First Quarter: 25 NFL officiating stories, Part 2

Raiders move to Vegas as the league embraces legalized sports gambling

Las Vegas was treated as the third rail for a very long time by the NFL. So threatening was the Sin City, that they were banned from advertising during the games, including airlines mentioning it as a destination. Seems quaint in these times.

Officials have been on an exceptionally tight leash for good reasons. There are very strict rules they must follow to not even have a hint of an association with gambling. It was said that NFL officials were not allowed to even step foot into Las Vegas or Atlantic City during the NFL season. In the offseason the officials had to notify the league within 24 hours of having frequented a casino.

Once the NFL did the about-face in 2017 and approved the Raiders to move from Oakland to Las Vegas, this provided a bit of a conundrum for the officiating wing. Yes, officials still could not set foot on a casino floor, although a city that has functioning slot machines in the airport challenges that definition. And the league would have to choose noncasino hotels near the Paradise, Nev., stadium for the officials.

The biggest threat in Vegas was the sportsbooks. Since, officials could not bet on any sporting event, not even horses, any impropriety could easily avoided. But, once a team moves to Vegas, officials would be near people who were betting on sports, subjecting them to be approached easily in that city by a gambler.

But the threat escalated before the Raiders even reached Las Vegas. Legalized sports gambling was enacted in several states across the country due to a Supreme Court ruling. Vegas was no longer that threat of proximity to gambling, but now it was any fan with an app on their phone in multiple states. After being unsuccessful in defeating its adversary in court, the league immediately flipped its stance in 2018, allowing advertising during games and collecting endorsement money from a few official sportsbook platforms. The cottage industry has converted into a massive cash cow for the league.

The vigilance of an official is now even more heightened, and they are approached while traveling by football fans who offer “suggestions.” Officials have remained above reproach, and it is hard pressed to think that someone would squander their NFL career by betting on games. You want to say that, but it only takes one. And, Major League Baseball just found that one, banning Pat Hoberg, their most accurate umpire, for having a joint account with a bettor who wagered on baseball. Hoberg didn’t bet on games himself, but he flew too close to the sun.

The irony is Las Vegas might be the safest place for an official.

Giants-49ers Wild Card wildness

On January 5, 2002, the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers engaged in a literal and figurative Wild Card Battle. The 49ers engaged in a furious comeback to take a one-point lead with just over a minute left to play. Before the next kickoff though, both teams decided they needed to do some fighting.

The Giants moved the ball downfield nicely and lined up for a game-winning field goal. There was a bad snap, the Giants threw a pass to lineman Rich Seubert who reported eligible. Seubert was tackled, but there was no pass interference flag.

When the 49ers defensive end Chike Okeafor pulled Seubert down, back judge Scott Green didn’t throw the flag, apparently assuming Seubert was ineligible, thus no foul.

But there was a flag down. Head linesman George Hayward had flagged Giants guard Tam Hopkins (number 65) for being downfield on a pass. If the officials had flagged Okeafor for pass interference, then Hopkins ineligible downfield foul would have created offsetting fouls, and by rule the Giants would get another chance to get the field goal right. However there was only one foul called against the Giants and the game was over. The 49ers had won in an miracle comeback.

The following week, supervisor of officials Mike Pereira told both teams that the officials made a mistake. There should have been offsetting fouls on Okeafor and Hopkins, an untimed down, and one more play for the Giants. Sources say Hayward was expected to work the Super Bowl that year, but due to the controversy in this game, he was swapped out before the announcement.

A broken grading system and a questionable Super Bowl assignment

A drumbeat of dissatisfaction over the grading process was brewing all season in 2012. Near the end of November that year, multiple sources had concluded that, despite the grades, the NFL had already determined who would be officiating the Super Bowl. The first story that Jerome Boger was assigned to Super Bowl XLVII was floated on Dec. 30, and on Dec. 31 the league denied that the playoff officials were set. On Jan. 15, we confirmed the entire Super Bowl crew.

As I was able to corroborate more of the story with two key sources in addition to other supporting sources, it was becoming clear that actual downgrades were being reversed on appeal for Boger. My sources said 8 “dings” were reversed, and in the ensuing controversy the league admitted that there were a number of grade reversals, but insisting the process was followed.

In the end, this was not about Boger, as this situation did not involve his actions, but those that were done at the league office. The overarching issue was not any one official’s performance, but that the grading system was being tilted to achieve a predetermined result. Fingers were pointed at the executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson having hands-on influence in the playoff assignments, which could not, in the end, actually be proven.

In the following years, the playoff assignment procedures were slightly tweaked to a three-tier system that is largely set by grades, but includes other factors. It is still not completely transparent to the officiating staff, but it is at least an improvement to previous seasons. 

TV brings in the rules analyst

In 2010, Fox Sports executive David Hill hired the then-retiring vice president of officiating Mike Pereira for a completely new sports telecast role: the rules analyst. The rest is history.

Pereira had the résumé for this role, working as a college official for 14 years and an NFL official for two. Launching off his work as the Western Athletic Conference supervisor, Pereira transitioned to the league office and was soon promoted to head of officiating from 2001 until the end of the 2009 season.

Pereira’s first game at Fox was the infamous Calvin Johnson no-catch against the Chicago Bears in 2010. He correctly stated that the call of incomplete would stand and explained to the audience exactly what replay was looking at and the elements of a catch as it pertained to the NFL rulebook. Starting from his very first game, Pereira showed why a rules analyst was important to not only NFL broadcasts, and Sports Illustrated named him the best in sports media in 2010.

Pereira’s success opened the door for many other officiating veterans — on-field and supervisory — to enter the broadcast arena as analysts, including Gene Steratore, John Parry, Terry McAulay, Gerry Austin, Jeff Triplette, Russell Yurk, and Dean Blandino. Other sports followed the model of the NCAA and NFL and brought rules analysts into their booths as well. The NHL, NBA, FIFA, EPL, NASCAR, and MLS all have added rules analysts to their broadcasts, with even the UFC looking to potentially add one.

NFL fines and suspends officials, then the first midseason firing

While discipline for players and even coaches is commonplace in today’s NFL, discipline for officials is a rarity. In the first quarter of this century, a few disciplinary actions were levied, including the first in-season firing of an official in league history.

Umpire Jim Quirk was fined a game check in 2007 for putting Packers linebacker Nick Barnett in a chokehold in an attempt to pull him away from an altercation. Referee Tony Corrente was fined a game check in 2012 for using inappropriate language that was heard on both the radio and television broadcast of a game in Indianapolis after Corrente inadvertently left his stadium microphone on during a conference with his crew.

Umpire Roy Ellison was suspended in 2013 for “profane and derogatory comments” towards Washington offensive tackle Trent Williams in a game against the Philadelphia. Ellison was again disciplined in 2018, being placed on “administrative leave” and fined a game check for a post-game confrontation with Bills linebacker Jerry Hughes.

Side judge Rob Vernatchi was suspended in 2015 for not detecting an 18-second runoff following a touchback in a Monday night game between the Steelers and Chargers. Vernatchi was paid during his suspension, although the league never publicly called it a suspension.

The most noteworthy disciplinary action was the firing of Hugo Cruz in 2018. He was responsible for a missed false start which should have shut down a play that led to a Chargers touchdown in a game against the Browns. However, Cruz was not fired for this one missed call. Cruz was described as not “maintaining a very high level of performance over a sustained period,” and some speculated that Cruz’s future with the league was in jeopardy even before the 2018 season began.

Cruz now officiates in Conference USA, and has worked 3 bowl games since his firing from the NFL.

Header image: Ben Austro/Football Zebras graphic