NFL officiating is a mess, the first fix is for the league to concede there is a problem
The league needs a higher ranking exec focused just on officiating
Another week of NFL, and another week of scorching takes on the officiating. Take Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin saying officials are ignoring holding calls against TJ Watt https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/teryl-austin-i-share-t-j-watts-frustration-with-holding-just-have-to-deal-with-it. The Chiefs last, failed drive in the Sunday Night game had at least three controversial decisions.
For my part, I had a rare Sunday at home and watched the first half of the Jets-Falcons games. In one two-play sequence the Jets were penalized for a push in the back and a holding that each were phantom (and no I am not arguing that’s why the Jets lost!)
One can find stories from the 1970s of bad officiating, so today’s lament and criticisms are not new. What is new is the financial heft, cultural resonance, and technological prowess of the NFL. That and sports betting.
The league and owners have long been quick to dismiss criticisms. Take Jerry Jones this week, the Dallas Cowboys owner basically saying dems the breaks https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/on-officiating-concerns-jerry-jones-misses-the-point-perhaps-deliberately
Officiating is part of the game, he said, meaning a bad call is just like a TD pass, something inherent in the contest. It is a refrain echoed by commissioner Roger Goodell whenever he is asked about the issue.
That simply doesn't cut it any more with the NFL intertwined with legal sports gambling. Yes the NFL did not control when the Supreme Court lifted the ban on sports gambling in most of the country in 2018. But the NFL has consciously chose to embrace it, putting February’s Super Bowl in Vegas just as an example. It owes it to fans to ensure so many of its games are not turning on the officiating.
Now what could the NFL do? Well it's trite but first admit there is a problem. Everyone sees it. When the NFL identifies a goal or issue, there are few entities on earth more adept at taking on the challenge. That’s how the NFL became the NFL.
The NFL league office power hierarchy begins with the commissioner and then one step down is a range of executive vice presidents. These positions largely oversee business areas like marketing, media, licensing, labor, events, international, and legal. Troy Vincent is the executive vice president of football ops, the position that oversees officiating.
But the highest rank for anyone solely attuned to officiating is senior vice president, a position held by Walt Anderson. If the NFL admits there is a problem, create an EVP position just for officiating and have it report directly to the commissioner. That would underscore just how important this area is and show the NFL takes its responsibility seriously to ensure the best team is winning.
Then the NFL should form an owners’ committee. Major NFL decisions run through owners’ committees. Currently, officiating falls under the competition committee, which has an array of topics it oversees from roster rules to player protection. The problems with officiating deserve its own focus. Jones in his interview said owners are already involved in officiating by approving rules changes. But that is different from overseeing a holistic approach rather than a vote–usually in March–on a series of proposed rules changes.
This is a league that has invested tens of millions of dollars in player tracking to create next generation stats like how much separation a wide receiver has on average from his defender. We are bombarded with new stats like that, which incidentally are being turned into prop bets.
Whether play tracking could be used to help officiating I don't know (in the Jets game a Jet was called for a push in the back but replays showed the other player stumbled and fell on his own, tracking data might show the two didn’t touch). The point is the NFL has a vast technological arsenal it uses for media, gambling, player training, health and safety and coaching. Perhaps there is a way to harness that into officiating.
And perhaps not. Whatever the case the issue deserves more attention than the dismissive response the NFL has given it to date. Again I don't know whether the answer is full time refs, giving coaches challenges for every play, transparency on the early week mea culpas that stream from the league office to aggrieved teams, or the eye in the sky official who can quickly overrule. But something has to give.
When the NFL wants to examine an issue, it puts its staff to work on the solution and then forms an owners committee (or an advisory group) to use 345 Park’s work and maybe push through a new measure for a vote. When the NFL wanted to interact with sports gambling, it studied the issue for over a year before taking action. That kind of attention should go into officiating.
Unless of course the NFL likes the controversy surrounding bad calls. That’s always possible. Tennis now has electronic line calling. While calls are all now accurate, the temper tantrums and histrionics of yesteryear over line calls were entertaining and part of the sport. Maybe the NFL sees officiating imperfection as just another marketing asset. If not, then admit the problem.