NFL's Troy Vincent disagrees with Bruce Arians' claim that refs aren't held accountable
Bruce Arians wasn’t happy after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 27-23 loss to the Tennessee Titans, and rightfully so.
Arians and the Bucs were on the wrong side of a blown call that negated a go-ahead touchdown with just minutes to go in the fourth quarter, a score that would have given them the lead.
Naturally, Arians was still upset on Monday.
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“Everybody except one guy saw the ball out, blew a quick whistle,” Arians said Monday, via NBC Sports. “My biggest thing is that referees aren’t held accountable. Coaches get fired, general managers get fired, players get cut. Referees aren’t accountable, and it’s a shame.”
But according to Troy Vincent, NFL’s executive vice president for football operations, referees are held accountable internally.
Vincent told USA Today on Friday that officials are downgraded for missed or incorrect calls in a point-system evaluation. The officials with the highest grade at the end of the year earn postseason assignments, while officials on the low end are subject to losing game assignments, suspensions and termination, per the report.
Vincent said he told Arians just that this week, too.
“I disagree with that,” Vincent said, via USA Today. “What I’ve shared with Bruce this week and others is that [officials] are held accountable. It’s just not public.”
With incorrect or blown calls seemingly growing more common across the league in recent years, it’s easy to understand why Arians — and fans around the country — are so upset after mistakes like the one last Sunday. An internal scoring and disciplinary system certainly isn’t helping, either.
While there isn’t necessarily a simple solution, a public system like Arians alluded to would at least allow for transparency after errors are made out on the field.
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