The Letter

Dear Mr. Commissioner Goodell

I would like to thank you for your time and devotion to the National Football League, the league I love. You have been a great commissioner over your time in the NFL. 

The purpose of me writing this letter to you today is to try to find a solution to officiating problems. I know that not all officiating can be perfect. But I have seen after Gene Staratore, Ed Hochili, and Walt Anderson retired, the blatantly obvious mistakes. For Example:

The NFC Championship game last year between the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams: later in the game Rams defensive-back Nickell Robey-Coleman slams into Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis after Robey-Coleman was beat on a route. First Robey-Coleman hits Lewis in the helmet with his own helmet and is obviously not playing the ball. No call. It’s obvious pass interference but no call. That could have completely changed the outcome of the game and even the Super Bowl. One mistake is excusable especially if it doesn’t have too much of an impact. The problem is that that one had a major impact.

Now fast forward to the early 2019-2020 NFL season the Detroit Lions were playing the Green Bay Packers: the Lions were winning the game at this point 22-20. The Packers were now driving down the field and on third down and Trey Flowers and the Lions were destroyed after two “hands to the face” penalties that were even on the face. Those penalties were both in the “neck and shoulder” area. After that penalty the Detroit Lions’ season went downhill from there. If that game was officiated correctly then the game and maybe the Lions’ who season could have been different.

Now fast forward to Wild-Card Weekend; the New Orleans Saints were playing the Minnesota Vikings. The game was going fine until about maybe 5 seconds left in the game. The Vikings were just about to score and beat the Saints in overtime. Now Kyle Rudolph was running a fade route. Kirk Cousins throws him the ball and Rudolph pushes off the Saints’ defender. So no call on the field that’s fine we all make mistakes. Wait a second! There was a rule in place to fix these mistakes, now you can review PI’s! So now we’re waiting for the review… huh. Where is it? No Review. That was an obvious push-off but no review, crazy. The NFL just put in a rule to stop this nonsense, boy did that help. This is complete Dejavu. It’s even the same team! Now if that was officiated correctly then the Saints could have faced the Packers and maybe could have even won the Super-Bowl.

Finally, the NFL’s and the world’s biggest stage: The Super-Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Super-Bowl LIV in Miami was a perfect example of officiating problems. Until the end of the first half the officiating was very good. But George Kittle is open down field for probably a touchdown if he catches it. He catches it hooray! But wait there’s a flag; Kittle for just turning around is flagged for offensive PI. But hey it’s ok that could have gone either way. Now later in the game Kansas City defender Tanoh Kpassagnon obviously jumps offside on a crucial 3rd down for the 49ers. Now that at this point is unacceptable. One penalty is fine but 2 are outrageous. But wait there’s more! Later on a game deciding 4thdown Jimmy Garoppolo drops back. The Chiefs blitz and demolish the pocket and a flag is thrown and Garoppolo throws the ball for an incomplete pass. Then the referees decide that Garoppolo was down so they pick up the ball. Garoppolo shouldn’t have been ruled down, that penalty threw the game. You can't mess up that many times on the biggest stage in sports.

My purpose of writing to you is to find a solution to this. I love football and I want football to be as great as it can be. Those game throwing penalties aren’t very great. I would love to find a solution to this problem. I’m willing to negotiate. I will also be writing to: Sean Payton, Kyle Shanahan, and Matt Patricia to help me in this pursuit of a better NFL.

I really appreciate you reading this letter.  Please if you are able respond

                                 Cheers to the Success of the NFL,

                                           Stephen McDonald