The NFL moved referee Alex Moore’s crew off Sunday night’s Eagles-Commanders game, four days after that crew worked one of the most criticized games of the season. The league has not confirmed the move, explained it, or said anything about it at all.
Football Zebras, which tracks officiating assignments, reported the change Thursday. Moore’s crew was replaced on Sunday Night Football by Shawn Hochuli’s crew and reassigned to the afternoon Patriots-Dolphins game, a regional CBS broadcast. Officiating sources told Football Zebras the switch was more about optics than discipline.
That is the only explanation anyone has offered, and it came from unnamed sources rather than from the league. Ramon George, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, has not commented. Neither has the NFL Referees Association.
The Game That Caused It
Moore’s crew officiated Packers at Lions on Oct. 25 at Ford Field. Detroit won 20-17. Green Bay was flagged eight times for 81 yards, and four calls drew most of the heat.
Karl Brooks was called for roughing the passer with about 2:45 left in the fourth quarter, a 15-yard penalty added onto an 18-yard Sam LaPorta catch that moved Detroit into field goal range with the score tied. Brenton Cox Jr. drew a second roughing call in the third quarter. Jordan Love was called for intentional grounding at the start of the fourth on a delayed flag, with the crew ruling the pass did not reach the line of scrimmage even though he was outside the tackle box. DeVonte Wyatt was flagged for a personal foul in the third for what officials judged a second tackle with force after the play was over.
One call went against Detroit. Derrick Barnes was penalized for unnecessary roughness in the fourth after bumping MarShawn Lloyd on a pass thrown over Lloyd’s head.
Moore Defended the Calls
This is where the coverage has gotten sloppy. Headlines have described Moore as making an admission. He did not concede a thing.
In a postgame pool report conducted by MLive’s Ben Raven, Moore explained the Wyatt flag: “We ruled that the play was over. I can’t honestly hear if there was a whistle or not, but the tackler made the tackle, the play was over. Then, there was an additional action, and he basically tackled him again with force after the play was over.” Asked what drew the flag, he said, “It was exactly the additional action.”
On the grounding: “So we ruled that although the quarterback was outside of the tackle box, the pass did not make it to the line of scrimmage.” Neither Moore nor the league has said any call was wrong.
Brady Did Not Hold Back on Live Television
Tom Brady, calling the game for Fox and a minority owner of the Raiders, questioned four calls on the broadcast. On the Brooks penalty: “No, my goodness! What is that? Brooks kind of makes a great play, that’s definitely not roughing the passer!” On the grounding: “definitely not grounding, they really missed that call.” On Barnes: “He’s just turning his head away from it,” and “That’s allowed 99 out of 100 times.”
Fox rules analyst Dean Blandino backed him on the Brooks call, describing the play as a teach-tape tackle.
Matt LaFleur kept his powder dry. “I don’t even want to comment on any of the penalties. I just, it is what it is.” His players did not. Safety Xavier McKinney said, “I’m not a big fan of the refs right now. I don’t think it’s great officiating, if I’m being completely honest.” The league fined him $25,000 for it. Wyatt was unrepentant: “I didn’t hear no whistle at all.”
There Is a Precedent
The league did this in 2015. Pete Morelli’s crew was pulled off a Sunday night game after a Cardinals-49ers game and reassigned to an afternoon Eagles-Patriots matchup in Foxborough. The NFL did not comment then either.
No official has been fined, suspended or publicly downgraded over the Detroit game. The crew still works Sunday. It just works at 4:25 on CBS instead of in prime time, and everyone is supposed to pretend that is a coincidence.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
