Report: Replacement Official Who Worked Seattle-Arizona Game Has Been A Paid Practice Official For Seahawks

A field judge in last week's Seattle Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals game—a game where Seattle was awarded an extra timeout—has worked Seattle practices over the past three years. While it may not be on par with being a proud and public fan of the team you are scheduled to officiate, it's still problematic because the individual teams pay the officials for those practices. So a former employee/independent contractor with an interest in maintaining that relationship with the Seahawks, since this lockout will presumably end at some point, was involved in a questionable call that benefited the Seahawks.

former Pac-12 Conference official Jeff Sadorus, who worked last week's Seattle Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals game as a field judge, has officiated Seahawks regular-season practices for the past three years — and therefore received paychecks from the team — according to two sources affiliated with the locked-out referees.

Regular NFL officials are under strict guidelines to work only training-camp practices, with the NFL paying them for those to avoid bias. Those are the only occasions that the regular officials are allowed to be at team facilities outside of game day.

The tin foil is still safely in the box, but here we have yet another example of the issues concerning the integrity of the game that the NFL has created for itself.