The Atlanta Falcons brought in a full referee crew into practice on Wednesday to try and clean up the amount of penalties they've already accumulated this season.
This week we need to beat Tennessee and ONLY Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/TSPgUeWDwl
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) September 26, 2019
In their first three games, the Falcons have been flagged 35 times for 264 yards. They rank second in the league, behind only the Cleveland Browns, in penalties.
Jim Daopoulos, who spent 11 years as an on-field official and 12 years as an NFL supervisor of officials, joined Andy and Randy on Thursday to talk about how bringing in a ref crew is beneficial for the Falcons.
"I'm hoping it was a full NFL crew of officials," Daopoulos said. "Often times, the teams bring in potential up-and-coming officials to work with them...All that does is help them understand what the officials are going to be looking for."
"It still comes down to the coaching and the players and understanding what the officials want to call, and what's going to be called, during a game."
As a whole, NFL officiating has gotten increasingly more difficult with new rules being added every year it seems like.
"You're getting into a situation here where, you know guys, it's still a football game. Let's play football," Daopoulos continued.
"People expect perfection in the National Football League. I don't think they expect it in Major League Baseball. They don't expect it in basketball but they expect the NFL officials to be perfect. And guys, they just aren't perfect. They're really good but they do make mistakes."
