Former Ref Says Critics Of

FORMER REF SAYS CRITICS OF

REPLACEMENT NFL OFFICIALS

NEED TO LOOK AT ALL FACTS

By Rene A. Henry

MORGANTOWN, W. Va., Sept. 25 – Fred Wyant, an NFL official for 27 years, says critics of the replacement officials need to understand that it takes five years to become a good one.

“This is only the third week of the season and these officials are experiencing a completely different game of football than they have seen before,” says Wyant, who was the only NFL referee to also play quarterback in the league. “I believe each and every official is doing absolutely the very best job he can. Most have been officiating at Division II and III college levels where most of the players are not on athletic scholarships and play for the love of the game.

“Many of these officials are not working the same positions in the NFL today as they did at the college level and working for the first time with others as a new crew. In the NFL we had the same officials on a crew for several seasons and each can anticipate what the other is going to do,” Wyant added.

In his book, “Offsides! – Fred Wyant’s Provocative Look Inside the NFL,” he notes that knowing the rules is only part of the game. “You have to understand the mechanics of the game and anticipate what is going to happen. For every offensive formation there are 10 or 12 different keys to remember, such as for a pro set office, another for goal line plays and various passing offenses. Your mind has to be like a computer. There is no way anyone can learn to anticipate what any NFL team is going to do given only a few weeks to do so.

“The NFL game is so fast and you must be in position to see and make the right call. When the teams line up you may have only 15-20 seconds to review in your mind what is going to happen. In a typical game I could mentally review between 1,500 and 2,000 situations before the center snapped the ball,” Wyant said. “To be the best in the NFL at your position you could only make from one to three mistakes during a season.”

If the coaches, players and owners continue to be upset with the replacement officials and are mired in negotiations with the NFL Referees Association Wyant suggests one solution. “Play the entire game with the opportunity for instant replay on every play and let the television announcers and a panel of officials in the press box decide,” he says.

Wyant, who officiated in an era before instant replay, notes that during the 1988 season every play from every game was reviewed and only 77 out of a possible 37,060 plays were deemed reversible, a percentage of .002. During the first year of instant replay there were more than 40,000 plays in all of the games and less than 40 calls were reversed, a percentage of .001.

Rene A. Henry is the author of eight books including “Offsides! – Fred Wyant’s Provocative Look Inside the National Football League.” He lives in Seattle and writes on a variety of subjects, many of which are posted on his website at

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