Referee Pete Morelli admits he should have taken his time on the PI call
After the Dallas Cowboys/Detroit Lions game, the guy everyone wanted to interview was Pete Morelli the lead official who may have cost the Lions the game.
Well ESPN Dallas’ Todd Archer was able to catch up to Morelli who admitted the call should have been talked over.
Todd Archer: Can you talk about the decision to overturn the call and why you overturned the call?
Pete Morelli: The back judge threw his flag for defensive pass interference. We got other information from another official from a different angle that thought the contact was minimal and didn’t warrant pass interference. He thought it was face-guarding.
Archer: Which official?
Morelli: The head linesman.
Archer: What did you see?
Morelli: It’s not my responsibility. I’m a hundred miles away.
Archer: Face-guarding is not a foul?
Morelli: Face-guarding is not a foul. It is a penalty in college but not in professional football.
Archer: What is the process you go through after you announce the call? Should you have waited before you announced the call?
Morelli: Probably, yes. The information came and then the officials got together a little bit later, after it was given to me, the first information. It would have probably been smoother if we got together.
Archer: Do you remember this type of player happening before?
Morelli: No, not particularly.
Archer: So one more time on who the person was that had a better view?
Morelli: The better view was from the head linesman.
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