The NFL has dropped the hammer on two of its officials. This came after two separate altercations with players in Week 4.
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Both incidents occurred during the slate of NFL games on Sunday (October 4).
NFL Suspends Two Officials After Player Altercations
The first instance occurred during the matchup between the Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants. The first incident occurred when line judge Jeff Seeman got into a heated verbal exchange with Cardinals star tight end Trey McBride. McBride appeared to disagree with the call being made on the field and voiced his frustration. A viral video later showed Seeman responding with an expletive-laced rant.
Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur told reporters on Monday (October 5) that the situation between Seeman and McBride was "unfortunate." At the same time, he still said it's important to give him "grace."
"It's a tough one for me. You hate to see it for obvious reasons," the Cardinals coach said via ESPN. "I don't need to go further than that, but I do want to give the man a little bit of grace too. I know Jeff. He's a good man. Unfortunately, it happened. It can't happen, obviously, and I'll leave it at that.
The NFL also suspended longtime referee Adrian Hill for his conduct during the matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon.
On the play, Gordon was blocking Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson from sacking quarterback Malik Willis. The play had been blown dead due to a pre-snap penalty. But the players apparently did not hear it. This resulted in Gordon knocking Wilson into Hill, who ended up on the turf. It was clear that the contact was inadvertent. And Wilson tried to help him up, but Hill refused, got off the turf, and scolded Wilson.
Wilson said that after he explained what transpired to Hill, tempers cooled between the two.
Seeman has been suspended for two games, while Hill received a one-game suspension. No word on whether either of the officials will appeal the NFL's decision.
