A Few Words From Warren Moon
The NFL has spent much of the offseason entangled with the topic of player safety.
Commissioner Roger Goodell and company have fined and suspended New Orleans Saints coaches and players that were involved in an alleged pay for injury scandal, they have proposed new uniform padding requirements that could go into effect for 2013, put more research into head trauma and they still have a looming concussion lawsuit battle with over 3,300 former players.
With all the resources being put forth on this topic, many believe, including Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon, that the NFL now looks fairly hypocritical when dealing with this current referee negotiation.
“It’s not a good thing for the NFL,” Moon said when being asked about replacement referees working the start of this season.
“The NFL has put a priority on player safety and things like that, and the officials play into that because they’re the ones trying to make those calls to make sure that these players are being taken care of safety-wise.
“Now, you bring in a bunch of officials who have never worked NFL games with the speed of these games, they are going to be out of position to make a lot of these calls, and I think it really adds to the safety of these players not being what it should be if you don’t have the top officials in the game.”
Besides safety being an issue, the reality is one game can change the fate for the entire season of a team. It may sound cliche, but with only 16 regular-season games, one play and one missed call can be the difference of being a Super Bowl contender and not even making the playoffs.
There is a fine line and with replacement officials making key calls in Week 1, there is reason for caution. Sure, the regular officials will make mistakes as well, but the experience and knowledge alone seems to create a vast difference between the two.
Moon, who played 17 seasons in the NFL, believes this should be a priority to ensure the integrity of the league.
“The NFL has the top players in the world playing and that is what makes the NFL what it is,” he said. “They should have the top officials making sure these games are being officiated correctly, and I just don’t like the fact that the best guys aren’t out there with the best players.”
Arizona native Matt Minkus is the host of the 110 Sports Podcast, a show that pays homage to one of the most repeated cliches in sports: “Giving 110 percent.” Excerpts of new shows will be available at LindysSports.com every Wednesday.