What a weekend of NFL football! I've watched the NFL since 1978, and this is the best playoff weekend I can remember, featuring some of the most exciting games in NFL history. Here are five officiating observations from the weekend. 1. No picky fouls https://streamable.com/t8acq5 I cannot recall a penalty flag this weekend where
Tag: unsportsmanlike conduct
2 NCAA coaches ejected this season. Are college conferences getting a backbone?
Commentary by Mark Schultz For the second time in the 2021 college football season, a Division I-FBS coach has been ejected for two unsportsmanlike conduct fouls. This past Saturday, Mountain West Conference referee Christian Watson sent Colorado State head coach Steve Addazio to the showers before halftime. https://twitter.com/footballzebras/status/1464804878908276739 While the announcers expressed shock at
Controversy flares over taunting point of emphasis. As always, officials are stuck in the middle
New point of emphasis aims to reduce taunting during dead-ball periods
Coaches’ behavior in the NCAA is becoming unacceptable. Again.
Commentary by Mark Schultz The NCAA coach–official relationship reached a critical stage in 2016 as many college coaches regularly stomped onto the field, wildly gestured, cussed, threw things and physically intimidated the officials. The officials were taught to kill the coaches with kindness, but many coaches plowed ahead and tried to bend
Officials can now flag coaches for not wearing a mask
The NFL has given officials the authority to penalize coaches who "approach them in an innappropriate way" without a face covering, 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. This follows a Week 3 complaint by the NFL Referees Association that Baltimore Ravens coach, John Harbaugh, pulled his mask down and got in line
No more clock-milking skullduggery in 2020
Embed from Getty Images Starting this season, the NFL will not allow the offense to milk the clock in the fourth quarter by intentionally fouling. The New England Patriots invented the tactic. The Patriots got a taste of their own medicine during last year's wildcard playoff with the Tennessee Titans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTsvc9pkZ04 Clock starts on
When teams are determined to fight, officials go into survival mode
Too many ejections in Week 1
The NFL officials had to issue too many ejections in Week 1. Of the three, two were for unsportsmanlike conduct and one was due to a flagrant helmet foul. One of the first games of the day features a disqualification The yellow laundry starting flying early in Jacksonville. Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack
NFL tells teams to stop abusing officials
Embed from Getty Images The NFL, in an attempt to protect its officials, sent a memo to all teams on Monday warning of "significant" punishment if players and coaches continue to physically and verbally abuse officials. According to ESPN's Kevin Seifert, Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, wrote, "In