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Mike Pereira flagged Michael Vick yesterday for unnecessary whining in the wake of the Eagles quarterback’s comments critical of the officiating following his team’s 29-16 loss to the Giants on Sunday.
Pereira, the former vice president of officiating for the NFL and now FOX’s NFL rules analyst, said he had heard it all before from the Eagles. He said he didn’t buy it then and he’s not buying it now.
He called Vick’s assertion that he doesn’t get the roughing the passer calls that other quarterbacks get “a bunch of bull” and said the Eagles historically complain more than any other team about their quarterbacks getting roughed up and not getting the calls from officials.
“It actually took me back to my job in New York when I worked for the league, and it was a constant complaint by the Eagles, whether it was [Donovan] McNabb at quarterback or whether it was Vick,” Pereira said. “They clearly complained more than any other team.
“And then I thought it was interesting to see stats that were presented by ESPN that showed that they got the most roughing the passer calls called for them on their behalf than any other team in the NFC East and, actually, they were the seventh best team in the league in terms of getting the calls. So it is difficult for me to sit back and look at that and say that there’s any validity to it.”
Vick had voiced his displeasure about what he saw as a double standard following Sunday’s loss at Lincoln Financial Field, a game in which the quarterback suffered a bruised right hand that kept him from finishing the game and was originally thought to be broken.
Vick backed off on his comments somewhat on Monday when he told a Philadelphia television outlet that perhaps he “shouldn’t have approached [his frustration] in that fashion.
“Truth of the matter is the refs have to do their jobs, and I was out of character in that aspect,” he said.
Pereira, who retired from his job with the league before last season, made his comments while a guest on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio.
“[Vick’s] a quarterback that’s on the move, he’s going to get hit more,” Pereira told hosts Evan Cohen and Steve Phillips. “Yes, there are a couple that may be missed but the fact that a ton of them are missed and that he’s hit late all the time is absurd. And he comes out and kind of does the mea culpa [Monday], but at the same time what did he say? I was being too candid. Well, that doesn’t sound to me like much of an apology. And also the damage is done.
“I don’t want to be the referee that goes in there now next and works with him. If he calls a roughing the passer penalty for a hit on Vick everybody’s going to say, ‘Well, Vick taunted him into that.’ If he doesn’t [call it], there’s going to be more criticism. So I think it was a bunch of bull and it didn’t sit well with me and it still doesn’t.”