Veteran NFL official Pete Morelli had a pretty rough time while officiating Sunday’s Bills-Patriots game, but it wasn’t his calls that were the issue.
While officiating the game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Morelli started proceedings by facing the wrong sideline when announcing an offensive pass interference penalty.
Unfortunately for Morelli, his shaky day wasn’t finished there. In the third quarter, he accidentally left his mic on while discussing the game with his fellow officials, and the entire stadium heard him use profane language.
“Turned into a pretty good game. But one big hit, this s— could explode,” Morelli was heard saying, via Kevin Siefert of ESPN.
It was not caught on television, as the game was in a timeout.
There’s some precedent for NFL referees being caught using profane language. Of course, the last time it happened, it was derogatory and directed at a player, so the referee was duly disciplined. Morelli’s was fairly harmless, but given the entire stadium heard him, there’s a chance that the league might do something about it.
