NEW ORLEANS — Mike Pereira feigned surprise when a flock of reporters huddled around him Thursday.
“What do you all want to talk to me about?” he quipped as Pereira slid into a chair at FOX Sports’ Super Bowl media day.
Predictably, the first question was about his feelings on the conversation about NFL officiating and whether the Kansas City Chiefs receive preferential treatment. The debate has rung loud enough to cause NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to dismiss the idea, while the NFL Referees Association released a statement Tuesday calling such theories “insulting and preposterous.”
Pereira, FOX Sports’ rules analyst and a longtime referee himself, said, “I’m sad it’s a story.”
With announcing tandem of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady absent from Thursday’s session while preparing for their game-day duties, Pereira’s was a highly sought-after opinion.
At issue is the notion that the Chiefs, and specifically three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes, are given favorable treatment when it comes to penalties called (or not called) in-game.
“I’m sad it’s a story,” Pereira said. “It puts more pressure on the officials. They’re not going to referee any different, but they know it’s a story going into the game.”
Sitting next to Pereira, former NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino struck a similar chord. He noted that any sense of preferential treatment by a referee would lead to bad grades, which would in turn cost coveted playoff assignments.
Blandino added that referees scout both teams for upcoming games, looking for tendencies similar to how teams scout each other’s offenses and defenses. He called on the NFL to provide more transparency around the officiating giving the increased scrutiny that comes with social media.
“The league has been slow to adapt to how we consume our news,” he said. “It’s naive of me to say the (referees) don’t hear any of it. The really good officials do a good job of blocking out that noise.”
Blandino acknowledged that Philadelphia and Kansas City present particularly difficult challenges, beginning with their mobile quarterbacks. The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes “does a good job of pushing the envelope” when it comes to skirting the sideline, while the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts is the driving force behind the “tush push” that Blandino called “a difficult play to officiate.”
That Pereira and Blandino were as prominent as anyone in a room that included the likes of Michael Strahan, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long and Terry Bradshaw speaks volumes to the microscope fans and the media are focusing on the officials.
Pereira was firm in his stance that no team — including the Chiefs — will receive preferential treatment from head referee Ron Torbert’s crew come game day.
“While I understand it, it’s a myth,” he said. “I feel badly for the officials, and I feel badly for the game.”
