Referee Brad Allen (122) checks the instant replay during the game between the Miami Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 22, 2023 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Can the penalizers be penalized?
NFL referees may be right far more often than they are wrong, but they made egregiously bad calls during the Dallas Cowboys' controversial 20-19 win over the Detroit Lions on Saturday, and have made some notorious mistakes throughout league history.
There was the non-call on the illegal forward pass during the Music City Miracle, the inability to comprehend the definition of a catch during Dez Bryant's postseason "non-catch" and even the botched coin flip on Thanksgiving in 1998.
Now fast forward to Saturday when a mistake by the referees determined the outcome of the Cowboys-Lions game.
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Lions coach Dan Campbell elected to go for a potential go-ahead two-point conversion after a touchdown catch by Amon-Ra St. Brown with 23 seconds left cut the Cowboys' lead to one. Offensive lineman Taylor Decker then caught a pass from Jared Goff on the two-point attempt that should have given the Lions a 21-20 lead, but it was overturned after refs flagged Decker for an illegal touching penalty for not reporting as eligible.
The Lions said Decker did report as eligible, and video shows him having a conversation before the two-point conversion attempt with referee Brad Allen.
NFL
That play, and the backlash that followed, would not have happened had referees made the correct tripping call against the Lions earlier in the fourth quarter that would have secured a Cowboys win.
A wrong call of this nature will overshadow the last 99 correct calls a referee has made -- because much like offensive linemen, referees are mostly only noticed or remembered for what they did wrong.
If only a yellow flag could be thrown when a referee makes a mistake.
While referees, of course, cannot be penalized in game, missed calls and poor performance can lead to disciplinary action, up to and including their dismissal from the NFL.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the officiating crew from Saturday's Lions-Cowboys game is expected to be downgraded, which will influence whether those officials are chosen for the postseason.
Here's how NFL referees are held accountable for bad calls.
Are football refs held accountable for bad calls?
Just as most good teams make the playoffs and bad teams don't, the same goes for NFL referees.
The highest-graded officials are rewarded by working postseason games. Those who have had subpar performances during the regular season watch the playoffs from home.
Officials whose performance is worse than sub-par can be subject to remediation or a demotion. NFL referees work on year-to-year contracts.
If they don't do their job well, like any other profession, there's a chance they will not be brought back the following year.
There have been occasions where referees lost their job in season.
In 2018, down judge Hugo Cruz was fired midseason after a blatant missed false start in a Week 6 game between the Browns Los Angeles Chargers. His dismissal reportedly was based on Cruz's performance failing to meet league standards over a sustained period of time.
It was the first midseason firing of an official in the Super Bowl era, according to the website FootballZebras.com, which monitors NFL officials.
How are refs monitored?
According to the NFL, referees are typically accurate on 98.9% of calls.
Still, the league's officiating department reviews game action during a weekly evaluation process to ensure correct calls are consistently being made.
Every play from all seven on-field officiating positions -- referee, umpire, down judge, line judge, field judge, side judge and back judge -- is reviewed.
An officiating supervisor also attends one game in person each week.
"From a booth above the field, they observe the officials, focusing on positioning, mechanics, accuracy, professionalism and more," per the NFL's operations site. "The review begins at the stadium, and supervisors will leave with a flash drive of the game so they can get a closer look."
Referees receive a review early the following week and training videos regarding how to handle specific calls.
