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NFL Head of Officiating: ‘I Don’t See Diminished Product’

NFL Head of Officiating Dean Blandino might have taken one too many trips on the Dallas Cowboys party bus. According to the league’s top official, there isn’t a diminished product on the field this season because of the enforcement of new rules, which have seen an uptick of about two penalties per game (via Associated Press).

I’m certainly not surprised that fouls are up. … We’re in a good place. I don’t see a diminished product on the field.

If we pull back now, then we aren’t being consistent, and I think that’s important,” he said.

We were very liberal in these areas and teams then started to play and coach to those standards, so they’ve been under-officiated… And that was the reason the committee felt it was time to tighten it up.

These comments may very well lead to questions from players, coaches and fans…all of whom have pointed out that the product we are seeing this season is less than in the past.

Never to be left on mute, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman sounded off about the three Percy Harvin touchdowns that were called back Monday night against the Washinton Redskins.

I’ve never seen that in football,” Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman said about the trio of touchdowns taken away. “I’ve never seen that. Ever.

If you look back on those three calls, there was likely an obvious penalty on just one of them. The other two were questionable, at best. While that may tell a story of lackluster officiating, it’s something that has been par for the course around the NFL.

Consider this: in a Week 2 Sunday night game between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers, officials threw a total of 34 penalties, 26 of which were accepted. Despite combining for 575 total yards, the two teams netted 399 total yards after you mark off the accepted penalties.

This is just one example of the new rules (and lackluster officiating) having an impact on the quality of the product we are seeing on the field. And for Blandino to ignore it, goes to show us just how much he is out of touch with reality.

Photo: ESPN.com

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