The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

It's being reported that NFL referees have decided to take a stand against former NFL vice president of officiating and current rules analyst, Mike Pereira, by giving him the silent treatment in response to his recent criticism of them. In Sunday's NFC Wild Card game between the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions, Pereria harshly criticized the officials for picking up a flag for defensive pass interference midway in the 4th quarter, and also for not calling defensive holding on the play, which largely aided the Cowboys in their 24-20 come-from-behind win. He's continued his criticism in the days following, even allegedly saying behind closed doors that, "Stevie Wonder could have seen those penalties!" and "These officials lend credence to that old phrase, 'I'm blind, I'm deaf, I wanna be a ref!" In response, NFL officials have vowed to give Pereira the silent treatment until he apologizes, by saying, "If you wear stripes, you're a...

While, at the end of the day, the Dallas Cowboys came back from 14 points down to defeat the Detroit Lions 24-20 on Sunday, all the talk is about the phantom flag (phantom flags would be more appropriate). With 8:25 left in the 4th quarter and the Lions up 20-17, Detroit faced a 3rd-and-1 from the Dallas 46-yard line. Quarterback Matthew Stafford then threw a pass toward tight end Brandon Pettigrew near the 25-yard line. Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens had his back to Stafford as the pass was coming in toward Pettigrew and appeared to make contact with Pettigrew as the pass hit Hitchens in the back. Almost immediately, a flag was thrown for pass interference on Hitchens. In the NFL, if a defender "face-guards" a receiver, but doesn't make contact with him, it's not a penalty. However, if contact is made, then it constitutes as pass interference, according to Rule 8, Section 5, Article 2 (1) of the NFL rule book (prohibits "contact by a player who is not pla...

With rule changes in college football (or any sport), there are going to be hits and misses. I think most people would agree that the two-point conversion and instant replay additions through the years have been hits, while the halo rule wasn't so much. It appears as if the new targeting rule may be a miss as well, at least temporarily. Former Vice President of Officiating for the National Football League Mike Pereira wrote the following on the new rule in a recent column: "Now, because of the offseason change to make the targeting penalty an automatic ejection, the bull's-eye will clearly shift to the NCAA after several targeting calls were made. I had great reservations when I heard about this change. The two things I was most concerned about — the consistency of the calls and severity of an ejection if, in fact, it wasn't merited — both came into play on Saturday in the Rice-Texas A&M and Nicholls State-Oregon games. The targeting rule is as follows: •...