Oakland Raiders coach Hue Jackson ready to move on after speaking his mind to NFL on penalties
Having reached his "boiling point,"
Raiders coach Hue Jackson said Monday he passed along his officiating concerns to the NFL and wanted to move on to other matters.
After committing 12 penalties for 117 yards in their 27-21 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, the Raiders are on pace to set all-time league records for penalties and penalty yardage. And it's a problem that appears unlikely to go away.
"I've had some dialogue and I feel very comfortable about where it is now,"
Jackson said at his weekly news conference. "We'll move forward from it. I just wanted an opportunity say what I felt, and I did."
Jackson addressed issues of fairness and reiterated Monday that he failed to receive explanations from Jerome Boger's officiating crew in the manner of his counterpart, Vikings coach Leslie Frazier.
Contacted Monday morning, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email, "Teams have an opportunity every week to speak directly to our head of officiating, Carl Johnson, and receive explanations on any call. It is part of our normal procedure. We look forward to answering Coach Jackson's questions."
The Raiders have led the league in penalties 16 times and in penalty yardage 13 times, a history that those in the organization have suspected leads to flags that wouldn't be thrown against other teams.
Many fans take it a step farther, believing it to be a conspiracy dating back to legal battles late owner Al Davis had with the
league.
Jackson acknowledged the Raiders have penalty issues but hinted the club's reputation does them no favors when he said, "We do need to get better in some areas so people aren't saying, 'OK, let's have a great day throwing the flag today because it's the Raiders out there.' "
Asked if the Raiders have to be cleaner than other teams in order to get a fair shake, Jackson sidestepped the question.
"I'm not going to get into that,"
Jackson said. "I'm not going to complain about the penalties. Obviously after yesterday I've probably reached my boiling point ... all I ask is that when people deal with our football team, that it's done fairly."
"Yesterday was one game where I felt uncomfortable with what happened. I said what I said and I felt strongly about it and I still feel strongly about it today."
Although the league frowns upon criticism of its officials, Jackson said he didn't expect to be fined.
Included in the Vikings game were three debatable personal foul calls -- a roughing the passer on defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, a hit against a defenseless receiver by linebacker Aaron Curry and a face mask on Tyvon Branch -- all which helped lead to the Vikings' first touchdown.
The Raiders had four defensive personal fouls in the game -- defensive end Desmond Bryant was whistled for a late hit -- increasing their season total to 17. The most defensive personal fouls since the merger is 19 by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1998, when they set existing NFL records with 158 penalties for 1,304 yards.
Oakland, with 103 penalties for 892 yards, is on pace to break both of those records.
Mike Pereira, an NFL rules analyst for Fox and the NFL vice president of officiating from 2004 through 2009, said crews of officials usually work only one game per season with each team and at the most two to prevent preconceived notions of how to call a game.
Nor are officials briefed, according to Pereira, about specific areas of concern with teams.
"You never do that, because you put it in the officials' head and you're liable to get calls that turn out not to be fouls,"
Pereira said. "I know there's not a conspiracy. I don't feel there's a mindset. When I look back at the two consecutive personal fouls, the one called on (Kelly) and Curry's hit, those are calls being made all around the league this year."
Pereira said the increase in penalties has a lot do with the league's emphasis on safety.
Curry, with three personal fouls in five games since joining the Raiders, never knows when the next flag is coming.
"It all depends on whether a referee decides to throw his flag or not,"
Curry said. "Every hit we make, they're all borderline. You can call a personal foul on every play, you can call holding on every play, you can call a face mask on every play. It just depends on what guys feel like calling."
Said safety Matt Giordano: "You can't control what the refs do. I've never seen a ref win or lose a game. It comes down to the players knowing you've got to be ready and with the understanding that you've got to play with poise."
