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May 17, 2007
By Clark Judge
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Clark your opinion!
Quick, now, tell me the last time you recall an offseason where there were no complaints about the officiating? OK, then, let me pose the same question to Mike Pereira, the league's vice president of officiating.
You might remember him. He was the guy in the center of that storm in Seattle following Super Bowl XL, when irate Seattle fans claimed poor officiating cost them the Lombardi Trophy.
Yeah, well, whatever. Anyway, where are those people today? More to the point, where is anyone who's annoyed with the officiating?
"This is the first offseason I remember," said Pereira, "where nobody has mentioned the idea of full-time officials."
And that is good.
Because when full-time officiating becomes the subject you can be sure that, somewhere, someone is ranting. But nobody is, and I'm talking about coaches, GMs and league personnel. Not only did the number of penalties and the times of games decline last year; so did the number of complaints -- and, yeah, I'd call that an accomplishment.
"So much is predicated on how the playoffs go," said Pereira. "When you're in the offseason, people think back to the Super Bowl, and they think back to the championship games. And if they're basically controversy free then the perception is that the whole year was good.
"And that happened. I think we did have a good year for the entire season."
Here's why: The number of penalties didn't just decline; it declined dramatically from an average of 17.41 per game in 2005 to 13.86 a year later. Fewer penalties meant faster games, and that's what the NFL likes. The average game last year lasted 3:04:07, down from 3:07:06 in 2005.
"We had shorter game times, but didn't lose any plays," Pereira said. "We had more passing yards and more rushing yards -- which are both good indicators that the game is in solid shape and that the officiating matched where we wanted it to be. There weren't as many fouls, and they didn't affect the offense or defense.
"So the whole season was good. Then it was punctuated with what were probably the least controversial playoffs that we've had since my time."
That doesn't mean there aren't concerns. It just means there aren't major concerns. Pereira continues to be bothered by the disparity in calls among his crews -- whether it's the total number of calls or the number of specific calls themselves.
Case in point: In Week 1 last season, there were seven penalties in the season-opening game between Miami and Pittsburgh and 19 in Arizona's 34-27 defeat of San Francisco. Pereira would like to know why.
Now let's look at the rest of the season: Ron Winter's crew called 208 penalties in 15 games, while Walt Coleman's crew called 140 over the same period. That's a disparity of 4.5 per game, folks, and it's too much in Pereira's opinion.
"I'm interested in reducing the strike zone this year," he said. "We have a low strike and high strike. We have crews that are calling 10 penalties a game, and we have crews that are calling 16. We have a referee calling one holding penalty in an entire season; then there's another referee who is calling 21.
"The strike zone is too big, and teams and coaches are having to adjust to it. My desire is that they don't have to do that; that they have a better idea what to expect on a consistent basis from crew to crew and individual to individual.
"So, we're going to work on that with our guys this year. When I talk to coaches I tell them that they should worry about talking about game plans instead of having to talk about game crews."
Look for the message to be relayed to officials when Pereira has his annual meeting with them in Dallas July 20-22, the last clinic before they're sent out to training camps. Then sit back and see what happens. A year ago, not much did -- and that's a step in the right direction.
"I think (officials) know we're pretty happy with their efforts last year," said Pereira. "It was a good year on the field, and a good year off of it.
"People are probably saying, 'What does he mean by off the field?' Well, the relationship between the officials and our officiating department was the best it's been in years. They signed a new collective bargaining agreement, and everyone was basically happy -- with both sides working as closely as we ever have.
"So, now, this year consistency becomes the challenge -- to them and to us. If we both buy into the challenge then I think we have a great opportunity to accomplish this."
LINK
By Clark Judge
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Clark your opinion!
Quick, now, tell me the last time you recall an offseason where there were no complaints about the officiating? OK, then, let me pose the same question to Mike Pereira, the league's vice president of officiating.
You might remember him. He was the guy in the center of that storm in Seattle following Super Bowl XL, when irate Seattle fans claimed poor officiating cost them the Lombardi Trophy.
Yeah, well, whatever. Anyway, where are those people today? More to the point, where is anyone who's annoyed with the officiating?
"This is the first offseason I remember," said Pereira, "where nobody has mentioned the idea of full-time officials."
And that is good.
Because when full-time officiating becomes the subject you can be sure that, somewhere, someone is ranting. But nobody is, and I'm talking about coaches, GMs and league personnel. Not only did the number of penalties and the times of games decline last year; so did the number of complaints -- and, yeah, I'd call that an accomplishment.
"So much is predicated on how the playoffs go," said Pereira. "When you're in the offseason, people think back to the Super Bowl, and they think back to the championship games. And if they're basically controversy free then the perception is that the whole year was good.
"And that happened. I think we did have a good year for the entire season."
Here's why: The number of penalties didn't just decline; it declined dramatically from an average of 17.41 per game in 2005 to 13.86 a year later. Fewer penalties meant faster games, and that's what the NFL likes. The average game last year lasted 3:04:07, down from 3:07:06 in 2005.
"We had shorter game times, but didn't lose any plays," Pereira said. "We had more passing yards and more rushing yards -- which are both good indicators that the game is in solid shape and that the officiating matched where we wanted it to be. There weren't as many fouls, and they didn't affect the offense or defense.
"So the whole season was good. Then it was punctuated with what were probably the least controversial playoffs that we've had since my time."
That doesn't mean there aren't concerns. It just means there aren't major concerns. Pereira continues to be bothered by the disparity in calls among his crews -- whether it's the total number of calls or the number of specific calls themselves.
Case in point: In Week 1 last season, there were seven penalties in the season-opening game between Miami and Pittsburgh and 19 in Arizona's 34-27 defeat of San Francisco. Pereira would like to know why.
Now let's look at the rest of the season: Ron Winter's crew called 208 penalties in 15 games, while Walt Coleman's crew called 140 over the same period. That's a disparity of 4.5 per game, folks, and it's too much in Pereira's opinion.
"I'm interested in reducing the strike zone this year," he said. "We have a low strike and high strike. We have crews that are calling 10 penalties a game, and we have crews that are calling 16. We have a referee calling one holding penalty in an entire season; then there's another referee who is calling 21.
"The strike zone is too big, and teams and coaches are having to adjust to it. My desire is that they don't have to do that; that they have a better idea what to expect on a consistent basis from crew to crew and individual to individual.
"So, we're going to work on that with our guys this year. When I talk to coaches I tell them that they should worry about talking about game plans instead of having to talk about game crews."
Look for the message to be relayed to officials when Pereira has his annual meeting with them in Dallas July 20-22, the last clinic before they're sent out to training camps. Then sit back and see what happens. A year ago, not much did -- and that's a step in the right direction.
"I think (officials) know we're pretty happy with their efforts last year," said Pereira. "It was a good year on the field, and a good year off of it.
"People are probably saying, 'What does he mean by off the field?' Well, the relationship between the officials and our officiating department was the best it's been in years. They signed a new collective bargaining agreement, and everyone was basically happy -- with both sides working as closely as we ever have.
"So, now, this year consistency becomes the challenge -- to them and to us. If we both buy into the challenge then I think we have a great opportunity to accomplish this."
LINK
