Ed Hochuli still holds the title of the NFL's most jacked referee, but the most ubiquitous figure in the field is Mike Pereira, the former vice president of officiating who now serves a "rules analyst" for Fox.
As you might imagine, Pereira wasn't a big fan of Michael Vick's anti-zebra rant from Sunday.
"Well, I thought it was ridiculous," Pereira said on SiriusXM Radio via ProFootballTalk.com. "It actually took me back, it took me back to my job in New York when I worked for the league, and it was a constant complaint by the Eagles, whether it was (Donovan) McNabb at quarterback or whether it was Vick. They clearly complained more than any other team."
Citing an ESPN report, Pereira said no team in the NFC East receives more roughing-the-passer calls than Philadelphia.
"He's a quarterback that's on the move; he's going to get hit more," Pereira said. "Yes, there are a couple that may be missed, but the fact that a ton of them are missed and that he's hit late all the time is absurd."
Pereira also was rubbed the wrong way by Vick's Monday statements, in which he stepped back from his postgame comments without offering a true apology.
"And he comes out and kind of does the mea culpa yesterday, but at the same time, what did he say? 'I was being too candid,' " Pereira said. "Well, that doesn't sound to me like much of an apology."
Pereira believes the damage already has been done by Vick, who has put every future officiating crew that works his games in a difficult position.
"I don't want to be the referee that goes in there now next and works with him," Pereira said. "If he calls a roughing-the-passer penalty for a hit on Vick, everybody's going to say, 'Well, Vick taunted him into that.' If he doesn't (call it), there's going to be more criticism. So I think it was a bunch of bull, and it didn't sit well with me, and it still doesn't."
