Mike Pereira Waits Too Long to Make Valid Criticism
Outgoing NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira, the guy who spent years apologizing to the media anytime an incorrect call was made in a pro football game, is taking his exit as an opportunity to air grievances about league rules and changes that happened during his tenure. ↵↵Foremost among the gripes he gave during a Boston-area radio interview was about the enforcement of pass interference, where the spot-of-the-foul rule can play an outsized role in determining the outcome of an NFL game, as compared to college football, where the penalty is an automatic 15 yards. In saying the NFL’s standard was “too egregious,” Pereira used the example that a player could conceivably kick another player in the teeth and be penalized 15 yards, while a player tugging a jersey could move the opposition roughly 50 yards down the field.↵
↵↵Something that exacerbated that issue, according to Pereira, was the point of emphasis on illegal contact penalties on defensive backs, an emphasis that was pushed on the competition committee by Colts GM Bill Polian after the Colts lost the 2003 AFC Championship to the Patriots. He said there was a huge spike in the immediate years to follow, but things have “leveled off a bit” since, though a noticeable impact remains.↵
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↵Obviously, Pereira had his job to worry about, which kept these views from being made earlier, when they could have been more effective. Still, it would be helpful for the league to heed his concerns. With the Polian-mandated emphasis on contact penalties, the huge impact a pass interference penalty can have, as well as the various rules imposed to protect QBs, conditions have moved from merely in favor of the offense to possibly reshaping the entire sport into a ridiculous forced display of offensive firepower, where defensive stops are not only frowned upon, but legislated against. ↵
↵↵If strong defense is an anathema to what the NFL wants to give its audience (because God knows some people love games with all offense and no defense), why not just run a bunch of skills competitions with backs, wideouts and QBs? ↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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