We noted on Monday that Saints coach Sean Payton told the officials to be ready for an onside kick during Super Bowl XLIV.
One of those officials says that the call was so shocking, it caught him by surprise even though Payton told him it was coming.
Rob Vernatchi, the game’s field judge, gave an interview (rare for NFL officials) with KHTK in Sacramento in which he said the call at the start of the second half was unexpected even though he had been told to expect it.
“Prior to the game they told us this,” Vernatchi said, per SportsRadioInterviews.com. “It’s to our benefit, especially on onside kicks. Onside kicks are bizarre. The ball bounces funny. So we knew about it. And we also knew it was going to be around the third or fourth kickoff, if they did kick off that many times. And also it was a right-footed kicker and he would kick across his body. So we all knew this. So we came back out, and you know what . . . we had all the information in the world but we were still surprised.”
Vernatchi was also surprised how long it took him, and the rest of the officiating crew, to figure out whose ball it was.
“That was, in all the years I’ve been officiating that was the longest one I’ve ever been involved in,” he said. “I was the unlucky one down at the bottom of that pile and finally the New Orleans guy came out. It was just survival of the fittest, that’s how we ruled on it. Quite frankly, that ball was bouncing around down there and there’s no way you can secure it and none of us are strong enough to pry it from any of those guys.”
Added Vernatchi of getting stuck at the bottom, “I’ve got a pretty good scratch on my face and my hand was cut up pretty good. Yeah, I took a little pounding.”
