The 2023 NFL season has been thrilling so far. Many teams such as the Steelers and Lions are rising above people’s expectations; whereas, teams like the Bills and Chargers are falling well short. The sudden shifts in team dominance, as the playoffs approach, have generated excitement among NFL fans.. Despite the exciting NFL season, however, one problem has seemingly overshadowed everything: the horrendous officiating.
As blown calls and other referee mishaps have become common, NFL officiating has undoubtedly fallen to an all-time low. Throughout the years, officiating has had many bad moments—the Fail Mary and the 2018 NFC Championship Game, just to name a few—but at this moment, it seems that atrocious and game-altering calls are a weekly occurrence.
This isn’t a small problem either; the league and its referees have received backlash from the entire NFL community. Harsh titles, such as “It was another Disastrous Sunday for NFL Referees,” from Sports Illustrated and “The NFL’s Officiating Problem was on Full Display in Week 7,” from Pro Football Network, have appeared in articles from prominent sports media sites. Furthermore, both former and even current players, such as Rob Gronkowski and Micah Parsons, have strongly criticized NFL officiating.
Bay Area sports fans don’t have to look far to see this problem. In Week 6, when the San Francisco 49ers played the Cleveland Browns, the Browns’ game-winning field goal was set up by two clear-cut incorrect penalty calls on the 49ers defense. Although the 49ers still had a chance to win at the end, they should have never been in the predicament of needing a field goal in the final seconds. Across the league, there have been many more examples of referees’ mistakes indirectly causing a team to lose, including in Chiefs-Jets, Bills-Giants, Browns-Colts, Steelers-Rams, and Eagles-Cowboys. Additionally, there have been countless controversial calls stemming from roughing the passer and defensive pass interference penalties. Preposterous calls like these have significantly altered the NFL landscape as many teams are being given losses, not just because of their performances, but also because of the officiating.
Another aspect of the problem is that refs simply are getting more involved in games. According to the NFL Penalties website database, this season, there have been around a whopping 15 penalties per game—a two penalty jump from last year. Football is supposed to be a game that highlights the players, but referees are forcing their way into the spotlight.
The root of this problem is within the league. Officiating training should be thorough and extensive, but the NFL’s training is neither. The league’s training is viewed as the worst among the Big Four leagues of America—NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL. This is due to the NFL’s unwillingness to commit large sums of money towards officiating. In fact, a first-year NBA referee makes the same amount of money as the highest-paid NFL referee. Additionally referees are employed part-time, meaning they ignore refereeing in the offseason and often come back rusty to start the year.
While referees are human and make mistakes like the rest of us, officiating still needs major improvements. The first step in improving the problem is the NFL should provide better training and incentives. If the league does not change, the refs will continue to drag down the quality of the NFL’s product and take away from the game.