Saints coach Sean Payton is sick of having his games called on Sunday by officials who are spending Monday through Friday at other jobs that have nothing to do with football.
Payton said today on PFT Live that the NFL has failed to improve its officiating, and could do so with one simple step: Pay the officials enough that they’ll quit their other jobs and focus all week on studying rules, studying tape and preparing to officiate on Sunday.
“The system currently hasn’t improved. We say it has, but it hasn’t. We’re the only league with officials who have primary other jobs, which is really madness. We can pay these guys. They should be full-time NFL officials, and they should be working throughout the week, communicating,” Payton said. “Every other sports league employs full-time officials. And ours, these guys all have other significant jobs. I just think it’s very difficult to do.”
Payton did not criticize any officials individually, but he did say that the NFL could make the officials better by giving them more time to work on their craft.
“The officials work their tails off, but there are some things that need to be fixed,” Payton said.
And Payton thinks the way to fix those things is to have the officials dedicated full time to fixing it.