NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has spoken on the state of the league’s officiating ahead of the divisional round of the playoffs.
Goodell had a chat with NBC’s Mike Tirico in Detroit, which is a bit ironic given the bad calls the Lions have had to deal with over the years, and defended the refs as he pointed out that they are human beings and cannot be expected to be perfect when everyone else around them is making mistakes.
“Analysts aren’t perfect, coaches aren’t perfect, our quarterbacks aren’t perfect. They throw incompletions. Running backs miss the hole, but we ask the officials to be perfect,” he told Tirico after the announcer brought up the controversial topic, per The Detroit News.
“They’re making decisions out there in a matter of seconds.”
“And you know, there are two teams out there, so … is he offsides or not offsides?” he added. “That’s just part of their job. They are the hardest-working people I see. They take great pride in it. There are individuals who work to try to make sure they’re contributing to the game, but we have technology to try to do that, too. I’m very proud of what they do.”
Hardly a game goes by without multiple complaints about the officiating. One of the most questionable calls affected the Lions, who lost to the Cowboys in Week 17 after some confusion over player eligibility.
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The Patriots’ loss to the Bills was another source of controversy after a costly offside call against Kadarius Toney that dominated the news cycle for several days, also leading to fines for Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.
