Mike Pereira, the NFL's vice president of officiating, is focused on the 120 members of his crew getting the call right and doesn't concern himself with how mistakes impact the betting line.
But, Pereira insists, there is no reason to question the integrity of his officials. After the Tim Donaghy betting scandal in the NBA, there is always going to be suspicion. All leagues must have their radars up to prevent any semblance of impropriety.
Pereira told the Daily News the NFL conducted background checks on every official during this past offseason after the Donaghy fiasco. The checks are usually done periodically. He is not concerned any hanky-panky was going on in Pittsburgh.
Still, it was an oddly officiated game. Green's reversal did not impact the outcome, only the bettors. The crew also called 13 penalties for 115 yards on the Steelers and two for five yards on the Chargers. Pereira said he was told it was the 51st time in NFL history there was such a large discrepancy in penalties.
"There is not an official on the field whose background check is not current," he said. "All sports reacted after the NBA situation and checked out people in that area. I don't think about what may or may not happen on the gambling front, but more why it's not right on the field and how we can get it right."
Hochuli incorrectly ruled that Denver's Jay Cutler threw an incomplete pass rather than fumbled with San Diego recovering with 1:14 left on Sept. 14. Even though the call was overturned by replay, possession could not be changed. The Broncos kept the ball, scored a touchdown and added the winning two-point conversion.
Last week, the Steelers were leading 11-10 when Polamalu returned a fumble 12 yards for a touchdown on the final play. The Steelers would have covered the point spread if Green, after watching the replay and confirming it was a touchdown, stuck with his call. But he reversed himself after conferring with three other officials.
Pereira said Green got confused and his eventual ruling that Polamalu picked up an illegal forward lateral was wrong. "They talked him into such a confused state, he got screwed up," he said. "There were too many cooks, too much information, a sensory overload."
Green, then working as a back judge, failed to call pass interference on a busted play off a field goal attempt at the end of the 49ers-Giants playoff game in January 2002 that would have given Giants kicker Matt Bryant another shot from 41 yards to win it. Green was promoted to referee in 2005.
It was reported that $100 million was bet on last week's game with about two-thirds on the Steelers. It created a firestorm that has not died down. Pereira rejects all conspiracy theories about his officials manipulating the point spread.
"I know my people well. I know all 120 of them well. I know enough about the facts to know that is not the case," he said. "In our situation, I think it is very unlikely to happen. We go through a series of checks and look at every play in every game."
Crews are kept intact and given playoff assignments in the wild-card and divisional round based on merit. Then only the best at each position work in the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. "There is a lot of peer pressure," Pereira said. "It would be hard for a single person to be involved."
Still, Pereira is distraught over the mistakes made by Hochuli and Green. "We've had some extremely high-profile misses that have captured the imagination of everybody. That includes myself," he said. "They make me very unhappy and it's disturbing we have them. We have to avoid high-profile misses. I still have to look at the total body of work and look at the statistics and say it is no different than last year, when everybody thought we were having a pretty good year."
Pereira says about four mistakes are being made per game - either on calls made or those that should have been made - which gives his officials a 97.9% accuracy rate through the first 12 weeks of this season.
"It seems like a lot (of mistakes), but when you look at the total percentage, that is not bad," he said.
He said there are 153 plays per game and about 2,300 plays per week with an average of 16 penalties per game. Each week, he says the 32 teams send in a total of 150 plays that had calls they were questioning. It's about 10 questions per game combined from both teams.
"I'd love to go through every week and say there is not a single solitary officiating mistake. It's just not possible," Pereira said. "The game is too fast and played by such skilled players. The game for us is 99% judgment. It's not physical. It's mental."
He says there are three stages to officiating: When an official first comes to the NFL, the game is so fast, he sees nothing. Stage two is he sees everything and calls everything. "The third step is to see everything and then figure out what needs to be called," he said. "I think we've done a really good job. But, for me, I'm disappointed because of the high-profile misses."
Imagine how the guy taking the Steelers and giving five last week feels.
But, Pereira insists, there is no reason to question the integrity of his officials. After the Tim Donaghy betting scandal in the NBA, there is always going to be suspicion. All leagues must have their radars up to prevent any semblance of impropriety.
Pereira told the Daily News the NFL conducted background checks on every official during this past offseason after the Donaghy fiasco. The checks are usually done periodically. He is not concerned any hanky-panky was going on in Pittsburgh.
Still, it was an oddly officiated game. Green's reversal did not impact the outcome, only the bettors. The crew also called 13 penalties for 115 yards on the Steelers and two for five yards on the Chargers. Pereira said he was told it was the 51st time in NFL history there was such a large discrepancy in penalties.
"There is not an official on the field whose background check is not current," he said. "All sports reacted after the NBA situation and checked out people in that area. I don't think about what may or may not happen on the gambling front, but more why it's not right on the field and how we can get it right."
Hochuli incorrectly ruled that Denver's Jay Cutler threw an incomplete pass rather than fumbled with San Diego recovering with 1:14 left on Sept. 14. Even though the call was overturned by replay, possession could not be changed. The Broncos kept the ball, scored a touchdown and added the winning two-point conversion.
Last week, the Steelers were leading 11-10 when Polamalu returned a fumble 12 yards for a touchdown on the final play. The Steelers would have covered the point spread if Green, after watching the replay and confirming it was a touchdown, stuck with his call. But he reversed himself after conferring with three other officials.
Pereira said Green got confused and his eventual ruling that Polamalu picked up an illegal forward lateral was wrong. "They talked him into such a confused state, he got screwed up," he said. "There were too many cooks, too much information, a sensory overload."
Green, then working as a back judge, failed to call pass interference on a busted play off a field goal attempt at the end of the 49ers-Giants playoff game in January 2002 that would have given Giants kicker Matt Bryant another shot from 41 yards to win it. Green was promoted to referee in 2005.
It was reported that $100 million was bet on last week's game with about two-thirds on the Steelers. It created a firestorm that has not died down. Pereira rejects all conspiracy theories about his officials manipulating the point spread.
"I know my people well. I know all 120 of them well. I know enough about the facts to know that is not the case," he said. "In our situation, I think it is very unlikely to happen. We go through a series of checks and look at every play in every game."
Crews are kept intact and given playoff assignments in the wild-card and divisional round based on merit. Then only the best at each position work in the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. "There is a lot of peer pressure," Pereira said. "It would be hard for a single person to be involved."
Still, Pereira is distraught over the mistakes made by Hochuli and Green. "We've had some extremely high-profile misses that have captured the imagination of everybody. That includes myself," he said. "They make me very unhappy and it's disturbing we have them. We have to avoid high-profile misses. I still have to look at the total body of work and look at the statistics and say it is no different than last year, when everybody thought we were having a pretty good year."
Pereira says about four mistakes are being made per game - either on calls made or those that should have been made - which gives his officials a 97.9% accuracy rate through the first 12 weeks of this season.
"It seems like a lot (of mistakes), but when you look at the total percentage, that is not bad," he said.
He said there are 153 plays per game and about 2,300 plays per week with an average of 16 penalties per game. Each week, he says the 32 teams send in a total of 150 plays that had calls they were questioning. It's about 10 questions per game combined from both teams.
"I'd love to go through every week and say there is not a single solitary officiating mistake. It's just not possible," Pereira said. "The game is too fast and played by such skilled players. The game for us is 99% judgment. It's not physical. It's mental."
He says there are three stages to officiating: When an official first comes to the NFL, the game is so fast, he sees nothing. Stage two is he sees everything and calls everything. "The third step is to see everything and then figure out what needs to be called," he said. "I think we've done a really good job. But, for me, I'm disappointed because of the high-profile misses."
Imagine how the guy taking the Steelers and giving five last week feels.
After doing what Wild General Did.......
Thats funny becuase a couple of friends and I did the exact same thing last night after I read your post becuase he recorded the game as well on his satellite cable network....we did the slow motion tivo just like you and we ran it through as slow as you possibly can! All 3 of us agree it was clearly a backward lateral by a at the very least 3-5 yards!
Look man you cant fool anyone into believing your statement. If your going to lie about something do it when you have at least a chance to defend your case! Who are people going to believe?....you or the other 30 including myself who did the exact same thing you did who say otherwise! Im guessing you were on SD to break the spread but I could be wrong!
Thats funny becuase a couple of friends and I did the exact same thing last night after I read your post becuase he recorded the game as well on his satellite cable network....we did the slow motion tivo just like you and we ran it through as slow as you possibly can! All 3 of us agree it was clearly a backward lateral by a at the very least 3-5 yards!
Look man you cant fool anyone into believing your statement. If your going to lie about something do it when you have at least a chance to defend your case! Who are people going to believe?....you or the other 30 including myself who did the exact same thing you did who say otherwise! Im guessing you were on SD to break the spread but I could be wrong!
what is so annoying is there are so many like you that have no clue about what really happened in the game and don't realy care that an NFL game was blantantly fixed. First the last call of the game was merely icing on the cake for the entire biased and horribly officiated game. Again watch the game, see the timing of penalties against Pitt and look at the box score. It was not all about the last call and made up reasoning for the overturn.
Secondly, retreading this thread has nothing to do about lost money on a Pitt wager. That money is gone and forgotten. This entirely has to do with the legitamacy of the NFL which needs further investigation and scrutiny. Given what happened in the NBA it is appauling that there is not more outrage and that mainstream media is not doing some investigative journalism...maybe they are. It is appauling the NBA issue has been quietly swept away by the NBA without further investigation. Hopefully the FBI is stil looking at that. It is appauling that fans, including smart people on this forum, are not clammering for this to get really scrutinized. Quite sure many of you like GoGo were fans of this game long before placing a wager. This sport appears to be compromised at a minimum by the refs and as a fan, not a gambler, GoGo is outraged. Hopefully more will come of this in the very near future.
