Pat McAfee Says The NFL Has An Officiating Problem: ‘There Are Some Refs That Suck’

Former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee thinks the NFL has an officiating problem that showed during the Conference Championship games.

In both the AFC and NFC Championship games on Sunday, the referees made some controversial decisions that had heavy implications for the games. In the NFC Championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers, Jordan Mason of the 49ers got penalized for roughing the kicker, which carries a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. The replay showed Mason ran into his kicking foot, which would only warrant a 5-yard penalty, not an automatic first down.

In the AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, a referee attempted to stop play without blowing his whistle on a 3rd down play for the Chiefs. The play went through, and it seemed the Chiefs were ready to punt, but the officials ruled the play did not count, which led to a Bengals defensive holding penalty on the next play and an automatic first down.

On Monday, McAfee was on his daily show, The Pat McAfee Show, and did not hold back his feelings toward the NFL’s officiating.

“I do think, though, that we have a massive officiating issue,” McAfee said. “I think refs suck! Not all refs. There are some refs that suck, and they shouldn’t be in playoff games. Why are they in playoff games? Especially when there’s only two games, and there’s going to be 50 million people watching.”

McAfee explained that he had many Bengals fans in his mentions on Twitter asking him to use his show to get answers from the NFL, although he added that his show had talked about this issue since 2018. He thinks the league should make officiating a full-time job and not hire referees part-time.

“Since they’re not completely committed to the NFL, there’s a chance that somebody can get a hold of them,” McAfee continued. “Now, I think they get paid well, but what is well? What is the line? Especially with how much money is potentially being made off of these games.”

“So make them full-time, boom, we can eliminate that distraction of potentially getting swayed elsewhere,” McAfee added. “Like all politicians cause they don’t get paid enough, so they’re easily swayed by Big Pharma, Big Gas, fucking alcohol, tobacco, whatever, you can get named into it.”

The former punter elaborated that fans heavily scrutinize the games due to the NFL’s popularity.

The NFL is not the only sports league facing complaints of poor officiating. An NBA crew chief, Eric Lewis, apologized for the referees missing a blatant foul on Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.

“There was contact,” Lewis said. “At the time, during the game, we did not see a foul. The crew missed the play.”

Watch above via The Pat McAfee Show.

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