NFL should adopt UFL’s approach to holding referees accountable

Have you ever watched an NFL game and witnessed a terrible call from a referee and wanted to know immediately what the official was thinking?

Unfortunately, there’s no way to do that in the NFL because referees don’t address the media until after a game, but the UFL has adopted a new approach that changes that.

During one of the league’s games this weekend that was broadcast on FOX, the UFL allowed a field judge, Gabriel DeLeon, to be interviewed about a no-call he made on a possible pass interference while the game was going on!

In the quick in-game interaction, DeLeon explained why he didn’t make the call.

“If there’s a back shoulder and I’m looking at that, and there’s no material restriction, I’m just gonna leave it alone,” DeLeon said.

To be quite frank, that’s awesome, and for multiple reasons.

Not only does it help hold the referee accountable and give him a chance to tell his side of the story, but it’s also informative and can teach football fans about what goes through the referee’s head when he has to make a decision about a specific play.

DeLeon’s response spells out how quickly referees have to make a judgement about any given play, which is why their job is so difficult and why so many mistakes happen.

Would the NFL ever adopt UFL policy?

Could we see this happening in the NFL while the game is going on? No, and for multiple reasons.

For starters, players are never available during games and coaches are only interviewed during halftime. At most, we could see a halftime referee interview.

Another roadblock is the union actually approving something like this, which we would assume would have to be agreed upon in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Not only are we years away from the NFL and its officials having to talk about a new CBA after agreeing to one recently, we also don’t see the NFLRA putting its officials in such a difficult spot to explain why they did or didn’t throw a flag.

After all, the NFLRA has fought several measures to try and hold officials accountable for their errors, so there’s no chance they’d agree to this one.

Chalk up the UFL’s cool addition of in-game referee interviews as another awesome policy the NFL will never adopt.