When the 2016 season begins, NFL referee Pete Morelli will be working with an entirely new group of officials. The NFL released information on their crews for the upcoming season, and Morelli’s crew has been entirely broken up.
Walt Coleman’s crew will also be largely new, but he will have one returning member in line judge Kevin Codey. Morelli’s crew of Bryan Neale, Steve Stelljes, Carl Johnson, Doug Rosenbaum, Boris Cheek, and Greg Steed comprise the only crew that will be made up of entirely new members.
While the move is drastic, it’s certainly not surprising.
Morelli’s crew had a disastrous 2015 season.
Under Morelli’s watch, The Pittsburgh Steelers had a dramatic victory on the final play of a Monday Night Football game against the San Diego Chargers. The touchdown really let the officials off the hook, as 18 seconds were incorrectly ticked off of the clock after the kickoff to start the drive.
In November, the same crew missed a false start penalty that should have been called against the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Baltimore Ravens. Instead, Elvis Dumervil sacked Blake Bortles, but was called for a facemask, giving Jacksonville an untimed down. Unlike the previous mistake, this one cost Baltimore the game, as the Jags made a game-winning field goal.
In December, the crew had a disastrous game between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals. The disaster included, among other things, losing count of downs and thereby robbing the Cardinals of a down on one of their possessions. That game got Morelli’s crew demoted from a Sunday Night Football game.
To put a cap on their season, Morelli’s crew granted the Detroit Lions a timeout that they did not have in a Monday Night Football game against the Detroit Lions.
The good news for Morelli is that he enters the new season with a crew that realistically can’t be any worse than his old one was.