Walt Anderson was hollering, "The half is not over!" again and again. And all I could think of was that scene in "Animal House" when Donald Sutherland, portraying an aggrieved college professor, told students scurrying out of his class: "Listen, I'm not joking! This is my job!"
Anderson blundered through the most ridiculous officiating sequence of the NFL season on Monday night. Given how quickly the NFL admitted his most egregious mistake, it's fair to wonder what else might be in store for the veteran referee and his crew.
There is little doubt Anderson will receive a poor grade for his performance just before halftime in the Seattle Seahawks' eventual 31-25 victory over the Buffalo Bills. His series of mistakes likely cost the Bills three points and forced a change in their endgame strategy.
But the NFL has additional options for addressing officiating mistakes. Given how blatant Anderson's were -- and how embarrassing the scene became -- it's not out of the question that they could be utilized in this instance.
Generally speaking, the NFL can suspend officials for errors in administration of games but not for poor judgment. One of the few known examples of a suspension occurred last season, when side judge Rob Vernatchi was sidelined for a game in 2015 because he failed to correct a clock malfunction.
In cases of poor judgment, however, the NFL has at times shifted officials or entire crews from a high-profile assignment to one that will draw less national attention. That's what happened to back judge Greg Wilson last season when he missed an illegal bat penalty near the end of a game between the Seahawks and Detroit Lions. Later during the 2015 season, the entire Pete Morelli crew was re-assigned for similar reasons.
Were Anderson's mistakes of judgment or administration? I would argue both. He and his crew simply misjudged a collision between cornerback Richard Sherman and Bills place-kicker Dan Carpenter, which NFL senior vice president of officiating Dean Blandino admitted almost immediately (via Twitter) was a foul for unnecessary roughness. Blandino later said on NFL Network that Anderson "didn't think the contact was enough" to merit a penalty.
At the end of the half in #BUFvsSEA its unnecessary roughness for hitting the kicker. Foul means he can stay in the game.
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) November 8, 2016
Anderson clearly was wrong, and that mistake led to two others. First, Carpenter -- who was shaken up by Sherman's hit -- was sent off the field for a play when he shouldn't have been. Second, Anderson failed to reset the play clock prior to a delay of game penalty against the Bills; Blandino said that the rule of thumb is to reset if an official is still standing over the ball with 20 seconds remaining.
That error pushed back Carpenter's attempt five yards and contributed to a 54-yard miss. Both of those officiating mistakes could be classified as administrative.
I don't know if Blandino will see it that way. On the NFL Network, he said the sequence will be "addressed" with Anderson and his crew but didn't specify how.
We should all take a moment and recognize that these mistakes blew up into a trending controversy in part because they happened in a prime-time game that the entire football nation was watching. It's also unrealistic to expect discipline for every officiating mistake, just as players don't necessarily face consequences for every drop, turnover or inaccurate throw.
Regardless, these types of sequences can dramatically impact confidence that NFL games will be administered in a competent way. A level of credibility is inevitably sacrificed when seven professionals fail to see major illegal contact between two players and then compound that mistake with a series of gaffes that leaves the referee begging players to return to the field.
Perhaps more frustrating is that Blandino and the rest of the NFL's officiating department have constant verbal communication with the referee via wireless headsets. But the program prohibits Blandino from pointing out missed or inaccurate calls.
There will never be a time when games are officiated perfectly, at least not as long as humans are in charge. Some mistakes are inevitable, and you can't punish them all. But they should not all be created equal, either. There are times when enforced consequences are justified to maintain public trust, no different than a player fined for a dirty hit, and this might be one of them.