Aaron Rodgers weighs in on NFL officiating, prospect of full-time referees

One of the most controversial rulings of this past weekend’s NFL slate came in the game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Just before the two minute warning facing a 4th-and-1, the Steelers elected to sneak the ball with Kenny Pickett and put the game on ice.

Replays showed Pickett to be short of the first down but the referees gave him the first down call. The Rams had no timeouts left so they couldn’t challenge and Pittsburgh went on to win the game 24-17. It appeared to be a blown call by the referees, and social media was ablaze with takes afterwards.

But Aaron Rodgers had a unique perspective on the play. He said it was a tougher call than people might recognize for the referees because the side judge’s view was blocked. He specifically noticed that George Pickens appears to block the near-side side judges view right when Pickett heads to the ground.

“He temporarily blocks the referee,” Rodgers said on his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “The side judge there cannot tell because if you slo-mo back — and I watched this yesterday when I was watching the show — right when he is down is basically when Pickens is blocking the view of the referee. So when he comes in, he assumes, I think, that Kenny had gotten to a certain line based on the fact that maybe now he got pushed back a little bit. His forward progress is going to be at or around the first down marker. He didn’t see him going down to a knee. The referee on the other side can come in on his own. But again, if you look into right at the bottom of the screen over where the four is, he doesn’t have a view of Kenny into the far side either.”

Was this a first down?

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While the referees might have missed the call in the Rams-Steelers game, Rodgers has a lot of respect for the referees.

He said that he thinks they should get an increase in play and get the support needed to make refereeing their full-time profession. Many referees have other jobs.

“I do think that it would probably help to have all of them full time,” Rodgers said. “I think an increase in pay probably as well. It’s a really important part of our game. We’re a billion dollar industry. I think those those men and women deserve to be paid appropriately where they can make this there full-time gig. There was thoughts about if we make it full time, are they watching too much film? Does that bring in bias? I just think that that’s not something to worry about.”