One of the primary reasons NFL officiating has been so clunky, time-consuming, and wrong this season is the apparent need for officials on the field to confer with the head office in New York City, VP of Officiating Walt Anderson, and Anderson’s cadre of officials who are supposed to help out. This turned into a fiasco in Saturday’s Bengals-Raiders game, when line judge Mark Steinkerchner blew an erroneous whistle on Joe Burrow’s touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd, referee Jerome Boger called it a touchdown anyway, and Anderson basically lied about it after the fact.
HQ confirmed with Boger on the play, and decided that everything was perfectly okay.