Mike Freeman’s 10-Point Stance: NFL’s Inexperienced Refs in for Rough Season

The best rules analyst on television will be with Fox for a long time. Also, CTE and Hillary Clinton. No, that’s not a phrase you read every day. 

1. Officiating guru Mike Pereira on new season

In the NFL, there really is only one person—just one—who can explain the complex, frustrating, impossible-to-decipher NFL rules book. His name is Mike Pereira. 

Few can thread an impossible needle the way Pereira does. He has the respect of players and coaches. Game officials like and listen to him. He translates NFL rules, which read like Klingon, into something that can be easily digested. Most of all, when he makes a prediction on a call, it’s usually correct.

That last part is more difficult than you think. Look no further than what happened to one of the brightest people on the planet, Mike Carey, who got numerous calls wrong. No, it’s far from easy.

This is why I’ve long believed that Pereira is arguably one of football’s most valuable assets. Fox definitely believes it, which is why the network recently signed Pereira to a multi-year contract extension, a Fox spokesman told Bleacher Report.

Pereira will be with Fox for years to come. That’s a good thing because in the coming years, Pereira will be needed more than ever before.

The reason why is that officiating will continue to be one of the great topics when it comes to the NFL. The reason is simple: We are starting to see a shift in officiating personnel, from an older force to a less experienced one.

In fact, the league faces a trifecta of issues in the coming years: player conduct, labor uncertainty and officiating. Whichever network has a grasp on that third subject will have a major advantage when it comes to fans understanding the game. For now, Fox has that advantage in Pereira.

What many fans don’t know is that the NFL is in the middle of big changes to its officiating force.

“It’s going to be a rebuilding year,” said Pereira, speaking of this coming season. “The good news is that when the league emerges from it, the officiating will be better than ever, when the officials get acclimated. They have a good leader in Dean Blandino and they are bringing in some good officials.”

And the bad news?

“In the short term,” he said, “you’re going to see some bumps.”

This means that in the next few years, we will likely see more wrong calls and games determined by mistakes. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. This will also be compounded by the fact that, as Pereira says, the NFL will likely add an eighth official.

Long-term? Good. Short-term? Buckle up. (Always wanted to say “buckle up.”)

“It’s still good,” said Pereira, when asked about the quality of officiating. “I don’t think it’s as good as it was in some recent years, but it’s still good. The problem with the officials now is that turnover.”

When college refs enter the NFL, they find the speed of the game is remarkably faster. It simply takes time, maybe years, to adapt to that speed.

“It’s not the Big Ten,” he said. “The NFL is 22 players on the field with speed and skill. Not four or five.”

How complex are the NFL’s rules? Pereira remembers when he first saw the NFL’s rulebook. “I thought, ‘This is one of the most complex things I’ve ever read in my life.’ Even today, when I read it, I discover something in it new to me.”

So even to someone like Pereira, who knows the NFL rules as well as anyone, that damn rulebook can be confounding.

Pereira has done some impressive things recently. He started the Battlefields to Ballfields initiative, which helps veterans become game officials. He’s also written a book called After Further Review that is due to be released in mid-September.

My two off-season projects: writing a book and starting a foundation to get returning vets involved in officiating.

— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) August 1, 2016

All great things and made possible by how he has turned something as complex as the NFL rulebook conversational. There’s also been a learning process on the job. Pereira remembers once criticizing former Bears head coach Lovie Smith (now coaching at the University of Illinois) about his use of coaching challenges.

Smith then contacted Pereira. It was one of the rare times a coach called to complain. “The criticism I got back from him was fair,” Pereira said. “He didn’t see my role as criticizing a coach and he was right. I learned my lesson.”

That’s one of the things that makes Pereira good at his job—he adapts. Now, Pereira doesn’t rip coaches or officials; he judges the correctness of calls.

So, yes, Fox has extended Pereira’s contract. It’s money well-spent because almost no one can do what Pereira does as well as he does it.

   

2. Josh Norman unfiltered?

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