Interference by Dan E. Moldea

Author:Dan E. Moldea
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480461185
Publisher: Open Road Media

36 Car Dealers’ Bonanza

SINCE THE ALLEGED FIXES in 1951 by a crooked referee, game officials in the NFL have become targets of close scrutiny by the league. A thorough background check is conducted on all potential candidates for these crucial positions on the football field. This is necessary because most referees accept their jobs on a part-time basis. When not in striped shirts and knickers, with whistles around their necks, they are wearing tailored suits and running businesses, practicing law, selling insurance, or teaching school, among other full-time professions.

Football referees, like umpires in baseball, are the most unpopular people in the sport for which they officiate. They remain silent, receive little credit for their good work, and get immediate and long-lasting blame when they perform poorly. And, the NFL holds them accountable for their actions.

Each crew is responsible for submitting written responses to criticisms they receive from NFL team managements. NFL representatives are assigned to each game specifically to monitor the performances of the officials and then hand out weekly grades on the basis of their work. Those who score the highest grades week after week are invited to officiate during the divisional play-offs and the Super Bowl.

Referees and game officials can completely shift the momentum of a game with a timely penalty. For instance, very few plays are completed without someone on the offensive line holding on to a charging defender—especially when the quarterback is in the pocket and needs time to find an open receiver. Not a blatant, obvious infraction, like pass interference or clipping, offensive holding is among the most common penalties called and costs the offensive team ten yards. It can also negate a touchdown pass or a long running gain.

Every football fan has either seen or heard of an NFL game that was decided by a penalty called by a game official. Even the most zealous football fanatic will agree that these calls—if they were indeed incorrect—were not nefarious. Most fans understand bad calls to be nothing more than honest mistakes.

During the latter part of the 1970s, several calls by NFL officials altered the course of the NFL playing seasons. However, none of these incidents was ever proven to have been the consequence of any form of bribery or fix. But they did serve as a prelude to an FBI investigation of possible game fixing by NFL officials.

• On December 7, 1975, a controversy over officiating in the NFL was touched off when the Buffalo Bills were knocked out of the AFC play-offs by their loss to the Miami Dolphins. Trailing 21-0 early in the game, the Bills battled back to within three points, 24-21, in the fourth quarter. With Miami in possession in its own territory, Dolphins running back Mercury Morris apparently fumbled. A Buffalo player recovered, but the play was blown dead by head linesman Jerry Bergman, who ruled that Morris had not fumbled. Immediately after the call, another Buffalo player brushed up against Bergman, who then threw another flag, penalizing the Bills fifteen yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

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