NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- By demoting a back judge who recently missed a key call and putting him on the Dolphins-Titans game, the NFL is declaring one game more important than another, a disservice to two of its 32 members.
Greg Wilson missed a crucial batting call that likely decided the Oct. 5 Monday Night Football game between the Seahawks and Lions, taking away Detroit’s chance to win it at the end.
Now ESPN’s Kevin Seifert has confirmed that Wilson has been removed from Tony Corrente’s crew that will officiate the Sunday night Patriots-Colts game. Wilson will work with Jeff Triplette’s crew Sunday afternoon at Nissan Stadium.
A week off for Wilson, I can understand. But taking an official off a crew of a particularly high-profile game and putting him on the crew of a lower-profile afternoon game says the league feels one game is of lesser importance than the other.
The networks, media and fans can feel that way. But the league needs to treat all games the same, even an AFC Championship Game rematch with all the Deflategate storylines.
The NFL has 32 member franchises who should all expect equal treatment.
If I’m the Titans or Dolphins, I’m not feeling like I’m getting equal treatment from the league office.
Titans general manager Ruston Webster said he hasn't talked to the league about the decision.
"Those things happen in terms of changes in crews," Webster said on The Midday 180 in Nashville. "Not the first time's happened. Really for us, it's not something we need to worry about."
The NFL declined to comment.
One Titans player told me in reference to the demotion, "I'm sure [Wilson] will be on top of his game after that."
Jim Daopoulos spent 11 years as an NFL official and 12 more as the league’s supervisor of officials.
He worked with Greg Wilson in NFL Europe and said he’s “a really good official” who simply made a mistake. Daopoulos has seen worse calls this year without any repercussions.
“I think it’s an overreaction by the National Football League, it’s a knee jerk reaction and I think it’s unfair to take him off a game and put him on another game, it kind of says to the Dolphins and the Titans, we’re not sending our best to your game," he said.
The NFL is trying to keep Wilson out of the spotlight, but officials work games and make calls no matter their circumstances.
“This will cause some repercussions as we proceed forward,” Daopoulos said. “Every time an official makes a mistake now, are you going to reassign him? ...
"That appears to be the statement they are making, that all teams aren’t being valued the same. The league looks for consistency, they look for competitive balance. That’s why it’s kind of troubling at some point that they will say ‘This game is more important than this game.’
“As fans we know what games are the bigger games. There is a lot more emphasis on the Patriots game with the Colts than there is on Miami and Tennessee. But that should not be brought into effect. These officials work every game the same. It shouldn’t matter who’s playing, when they are playing and what teams are involved. Why would they switch him, why wouldn’t they just sit him down for a game? That would have made more sense to me.”