To many NFL fans, the quality and consistency of officiating in 2022 was a glaring problem that swung games and, in some cases, seasons.
Roger Goodell evidently does not share those concerns.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday in his annual Super Bowl week news conference, the NFL commissioner strongly pushed back on criticism directed at the league’s officiating crews.
“I think for us, when you look at officiating, I don’t think it’s ever been better in the league,” Goodell said. “There are over 42,000 plays in a season. Multiple infractions could occur on any play. Take that out. Extrapolate that. That’s hundreds, if not millions of potential fouls, and our officials do an extraordinary job of getting those.
“Are there mistakes in the context of that? Yes. They are not perfect, and officiating never will (be). … We want to go back and look at the facts. We may not agree with every TV announcer or every officiating expert, but we think our officials are doing a great job. We’re always going to look to our competition committee and everything we have (to figure out) how we improve our officiating, but it will never be perfect.”
Goodell went on to note how modern NFL broadcasts afford fans different and clearer angles of every play, which he argued has increased the scrutiny officials face.
“You’ve never been able to see the kind of things that you can see today,” Goodell said. “And you see it in super slo-mo. You see it where you can actually stop it. Sometimes, that distorts a call, potentially, but the reality is our officials are held to an incredibly high standard, and I think they meet it. Will we try to get better? You betcha.”
Patriots fans can point to multiple controversial officiating decisions that harmed their team this season, from the Hunter Henry touchdown that was disallowed against Minnesota to the questionable Keelan Cole score that stood against Las Vegas. New England went on to lose both of those games and finished one game back of a playoff spot.
Supporters of other teams have valid gripes, too. In the AFC Championship Game, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was furious after the Kansas City Chiefs were granted a third-down do-over because officials didn’t blow the initial play dead in a timely fashion.
Goodell said that bizarre sequence was handled “appropriately” by Ron Torbert’s crew.
“That happens frequently in our game,” he said. “That’s not an unusual thing to have that happen.”
