During the Denver Broncos win over the Baltimore Ravens an unfortunate incident took place. Line judge Gary Arthur was accidentally knocked over by a Ravens player who was trying to cover a punt. He was down for several minutes while the Broncos training staff looked at him. Arthur was able to sit up and walk to the cart that took him off the field. The crew working the game had to officiate with six referees instead of seven.
It was originally thought Arthur sustained a broken collarbone but his injuries were much worse. During that play, he suffered nine broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Arthur is in his 19th season and it’s unlikely he will return to the field anytime soon. According to the bleacherreport.com, the NFL will add another official to the referee crew of Barry Anderson, Dino Paganelli, Gene Steratore, Bob Waggoner, Ed Walker, and Mike Weatherford.
NFL referees have a tough job. They watch the game at full speed, determine if there is a flag on the play, and decide whom the infraction is on. Sometimes the refs break up players’ confrontations. Some of them explain to the coaches what is going on when there is a stoppage of play and are yelled at by NFL head coaches. It’s a dangerous and demanding job. They never expect to get hit from behind.
This type of occurrence rarely happens. The surprising part about all this is that the NFL didn’t have another ref on the sidelines waiting to get onto the field in case something happens. They had to monitor the game with six referees. Sure they practiced using six referees on the field in the preseason but it was tricky for them to see everything. It’s more difficult for the group to cover the whole field. They might have missed some calls down the field but it didn’t affect Denver’s 19-13 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. The NFL should look at this again and possibly have an emergency referee on the sidelines so they can still have seven on the field to cover the whole turf.
YES TO THE SPARE REF.