Veteran NFL Referee Mike Pereira Joins OutKick 360 To Discuss The League's Problem With 'Messy' Officiating

A Sunday full of NFL Conference Championship Games was derailed by the narrative of "messy" officiating.

Joining OutKick 360 on Wednesday to discuss the turbulent Sunday for game officials was longtime FOX NFL rules analyst Mike Pereira.

With a 14-year career on NFL sidelines, Pereira has seen plenty of action go sideways, only for the officials to step in and try to make sense of it all.

Pereira spoke on how the outlook from fans has evolved as they get more invested in the game, where the refs got it wrong in the AFC and NFC Championship Games and how officiating deservedly lost trust with audiences and players after Sunday.

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"People are so invested in the game now, whether it is their hometown team, their fantasy team, their bet, whatever, that I think they need to know, deserve to know what happened and that they can understand the rules better and understand the circumstance, then I think it's better off," Pereira said.

He added, "But to be kind of closed mouth is pretty difficult now. I think if it was me. You know, my impression was that the week of the championship game was just messy.

"I can't think of really a better word other than messy. I, in particular, didn't have a real problem with the calls. I just had a concern with, you know, how they went about this and how it made officiating look, whether it was the awarding of another play, the Kansas City, because of a clock malfunction.

"Why did that happen? I mean, it really never was truly explained why it did happen. Why did we not get a replay review on the DeVonta Smith catch on fourth down on the first series in Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers?"

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