Roger Goodell Once Again Claims NFL Officiating Is Great, Fans Once Again Disagree

Last year during the playoffs, Roger Goodell told the media, “For us, when you look at officiating, I don’t think it’s ever been better in the league.”

Many NFL fans wondered if had actually watched any of the games.

This year, in the opinion of many fans, NFL officiating has only, somehow, managed to get even worse.

Not that you would know that if you only listened to Roger Goodell again this year.

This week during a question and answer session with Mike Tirico while promoting the 2024 NFL Draft in Detroit, the NFL commissioner was asked about the state of officiating.

“We spent the last five minutes backstage talking officiating,” Tirico said, causing Goodell to have himself a big belly laugh.

“And it’s been a big point of contention for every fan, right?” Tirico asked the crowd to a smattering of applause.

“But in all seriousness, I said this to the commissioner and I’m happy to say it publicly too. When we broadcast a game we’re not perfect.

“I blew two identifications this weekend, called the wrong player. Analyst isn’t perfect, our coaches aren’t perfect, our quarterbacks aren’t perfect. They throw incompletions. Running backs miss the hole, but we ask the officials to be perfect, right?

Tirico then tossed a complimentary word salad Roger Goodell’s way, opening the door for him to talk about how great the NFL officiating has been this season.

“The league works at it all the time to try to get it right and that’s the appreciation I think as folks involved in business, involved in community involved, in trying to get it better, either you say, ‘ah, it’s not going to work,’ or we try to make it better and I think at every level you guys do all of that. So, bravo, for all of you.”

“Well, I think it’s, you know, listen, I’m proud of our officials. They’re doing an extraordinary job. They aren’t perfect. They’re making decisions out there in a matter of seconds,” Roger replied.

“But what we’ve seen in a variety of circumstances this year, without getting into any specifics, is they get it right, they’re still criticized.

“And you know there two teams out there, so is he offsides, not offside, you gotta call it?” Goodell continued. “That’s just part of their job. They are the hardest working people I see. They take great pride in it. There are individuals who work to try to make sure they’re contributing to the game, but we have technology to try to do that, too.

“I’m very proud of what they do.”

Needless to say, many NFL fans begged to differ.

Called it!