“The deep officials were trained that during a Hail Mary, there’s a lot of bodies in there and you just let it go.” – NFL Replacement Referee Wayne Elliott
NEW YORK (October 3, 2012) NFL replacement referees Wayne Elliott and Jim Core share their side of the story, including insight into the training they received and the reactions by players, coaches and fans to their refereeing abilities, tonight on INSIDE THE NFL. The episode premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME.
Former Washington Redskins and New York Giants linebacker LaVar Arrington joins James Brown, Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth as this week’s guest analyst.
Brown anchors INSIDE THE NFL on SHOWTIME along with All-Pro NFL greats Collinsworth and Simms serving as expert analysts. INSIDE THE NFL, now in its 34th season, airs every Wednesday night through the NFL season on SHOWTIME, with multiple replays each week on SHOWTIME and SHOWTIME EXTREME® and availability on SHOWTIME On Demand.
INSIDE THE NFL is produced by CBS Sports and NFL Films. The executive producers are Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports and NFL Films. Pete Radovich Jr., the Emmy Award-winning Creative Director for CBS Sports, serves as coordinating producer.
Following are excerpts from tonight’s interview with Elliott and Core:
On rules they were taught, specifically regarding a Hail Mary pass…
ELLIOTT: (For) the deep officials, it was brought up that you don’t really call interference on a Hail Mary… The deep officials were trained that during a Hail Mary, there’s a lot of bodies in there and you just let it go.
COLLINSWORTH: Whoa! Really?
CORE: Which is a philosophy in college too. Those Hail Marys, you don’t want to say all bets are off, but for the most part you let the players decide.
COLLINSWORTH: So the officials training you guys told you on Hail Marys, let’s not call pass interference on this play?
ELLIOTT: That’s from my understanding. I was not in the deep officials training.
COLLINSWORTH: But that is what you were told by the officials that were?
ELLIOTT: Yes, sir.
COLLINSWORTH: That’s a big mistake. That needs to be changed.
On the now infamous game changing call made by Elliott and the other replacement refs during the Green Bay vs. Seattle game…
COLLINSWORTH: Now looking at the play, if you had been one of the two officials in the end zone, do you call interception or touchdown?
ELLIOTT: I’d probably call interception.
On hearing from head coach Mike McCarthy…
ELLIOTT: He called me at my house last week because he had heard I was having a rough week with all the calls and everything… He wanted me to know he thought that what I did, controversial and maybe he didn’t agree with it, that I handled it with class.
On experiences with players…
ELLIOTT: I had Jay Cutler, when we did not reset the game clock for him after a discussion about a penalty enforcement, call me a M-F-ing replacement ref. ‘Just because you are a M-F-ing replacement ref, you’ve got to know the f-ing rules.” And three minutes later during a timeout, I’m standing next to him and he’s got some water and he said, ‘You want some water?’ And I said, ‘Yes, even though I’m a M-F-ing replacement ref, I’ll drink your water.’ And he said, ‘It’s all I could say to get your attention.’
On becoming an NFL replacement referee…
CORE: We pretty much knew that the advancement in our college career was over had we signed on (to become replacement referees). So that was the debate on whether I was going to want to give this up.
COLLINSWORTH: So you knew that by becoming a replacement NFL ref, any chance of your going on either in the NFL or even in college football was finished at that point?
CORE: Pretty much.
COLLINSWORTH: Why?
CORE: The college commissioners, the college football officiating is controlled by the NFL referees. So we knew crossing the line was going to end the college career.
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