Former NFL vice president of officiating and current analyst Mike Pereira has a better understanding of pro football rules than most people, but he seems to think Tony Romo needs to get on his level.
In a series of tweets, Pereira was critical of Romo for some of the calls he made during Saturday night’s game between the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans. For starters, Pereira said Romo demonstrated a lack of understanding with the rules when he took issue with Eric Decker being called for offensive pass interference.
I really enjoy listening to Tony Romo. He is new and refreshing. But, he struggles a bit with the rules. That was OPI on Decker. If not for the first shove, clearly the second which pushed him to the ground. The contacts were more than one yard beyond the line. (More)
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 14, 2018
Tony referred to the contact being within 5 yards. That was true but that only applies to defenders not offensive receivers. Had that not been called the official would have been downgraded for missing.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 14, 2018
Pereira also defended the officiating crew over a couple of false start penalties that Romo and his CBS partner Jim Nantz seemed to take issue with.
The false start at 6:25 if the second was not well handled but the flag did not come 12 seconds after the movement. The mistake was that the umpire called it from deep in the backfield and the announcement was made before checking with the line of scrimmage officials (more).
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 14, 2018
Nothing was called on the center. It was the left guard. The line of scrimmage officials overruled the umpire because they felt the defender moved into the neutral zone before the LG moved. It is very close. I would rather of seen it be a false start because it was that close.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 14, 2018
Lastly, and I am sure for most of you finally, the false start at 3:55 of the 3rd is a false start. No offensive player can make an abrupt move like that. If he starts smoothly and then resets that is not a foul. That will be called every time if seen. (One more)
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 14, 2018
The most noteworthy issue from the game was when Danny Amendola caught a pass at the end of the first half to set the Patriots up for a field goal. It appeared as though the Patriots caught a break with the clock operator stopping the clock with a second remaining, which Romo referred to as home cooking. He later corrected himself when he learned that clock operators travel from a neutral site and have nothing to do with the home team.
The clock operator issue had nothing to do with home cooking. Tony and Jim corrected that in the second half. The clock operators travel in from a neural site. The clock operator is told to stop the clock as soon as the officials signal. I think they did a great job stopping it.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 14, 2018
Again, I really like Jim and Tony. I think they do a really good job. But, last night I felt the officials were overly criticized. One thing for sure, they did not affect the outcome of the game. I have said my peace.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) January 14, 2018
You can see a video of the Amendola play here.
Romo is still adjusting to life as a broadcaster, and some issues were expected in his first year on the job. He’ll be able to work a lot of that out during the offseason, and you can bet he’ll take note of Pereira’s criticism.
