You’ve been warned, NFL coaches.
Blasting the refs in protesting calls and non-calls – even the most egregious or baffling cases – has its limits.
And potentially, a hefty price tag.
The league has docked New England's Mike Vrabel, Philadelphia's Nick Sirianni and the New York Jets' Aaron Glenn $250,000 each for recent verbal abuse on officials, the NFL confirmed to USA TODAY Sports, seemingly resetting the line of decorum. The fines, however, come with a twist: they are in abeyance, meaning they can be wiped out with good behavior, i.e., no other incidents this season.
Still, it's a message about what will be tolerated that somebody needs to hear.
"The amount, that's a shocker," Mike Pereira, the NFL’s former officiating chief and Fox Sports rules analyst, told USA TODAY Sports. "Obviously, they're trying to send a message.
"Coaches make so much money. The $25,000 or $15,000 fines apparently don't have an effect. Maybe this will be a deterrent."
It's striking that the discipline on coaches comes weeks after the NFL took the rare action of suspending two game officials – referee Adrian Hill and line judge Jeff Seeman – for their conduct during two games in Week 4. Hill was suspended one game for chastising Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson, who inadvertently knocked the referee to the turf while in the act of rushing the quarterback. Seeman was taken off the field for two games after using profanity (which was caught on videotape) in pushing back on Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, who grumbled about the officiating.
Complain away, but coaches get flags, fines for personal attacks
When the officials were suspended, the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) contended the punishment was excessive, given verbal abuse that officials frequently receive from coaches and players. Good point. And now, amid increasing concern in the NFL office about sportsmanship, the coaches are fined.
Scott Green, the NFLRA’s executive director, refused to comment on the fines for Vrabel, Glenn and Sirianni, when contacted Thursday by USA TODAY Sports.
Yet Green – whose union has filed a grievance protesting the discipline on officials, which ultimately could be ruled on by Commissioner Roger Goodell – acknowledged that verbal abuse is a way of life for officials.
“You hear a lot of stuff out on the field, whether it's from players or coaches," Green said. "It sort of points to the rules that say when it's excessive, you should flag guys. We have tools in place. Use the tools."
Vrabel was penalized by referee Bill Vinovich's crew for unsportsmanlike conduct during the Patriots' victory at Buffalo on Oct. 4, when he became incensed by a defensive holding call against Marcus Jones. The 15-yard infraction advanced the football to the 6-yard line, setting up a touchdown.
During his postgame news conference, Vrabel – a member of the NFL's competition committee that works closely with the officiating department in making and tweaking rules – admitted to using profanity in protesting the penalty. Tellingly, Vrabel maintained that his conduct and choice of words was typical of action he has demonstrated throughout his coaching career.
Well, now the league is drawing a line in the turf for what will be allowed.
"If they're going to suspend officials, then let's make sure that we don't have a double standard," Pereira said.
Pereira is mindful of frustrations that coaches harbor in the heat of games and acknowledged that the pressure of their jobs and the performance of their players are factors beyond their control. That leaves officials in the line of fire.
"So, you let them vent," said Pereira, who oversaw NFL officials from 2001-2009. "Just don’t make it personal."
That could be reflected with what Pereira calls "the dirty three-letter word" that crosses the line.
The word? "You!" Pereira said.
Pereira would tell his officials to throw flags when the griping went beyond disagreeing with a call to incorporate personal attacks.
Referee mistreatment has trickle-down effect from NFL to youth football
It's no wonder that, as NFL Executive Vice President Troy Vincent told USA TODAY Sports recently, the number of officials entering the occupation on lower levels of football – in Pop Warner youth leagues and high schools – has decreased significantly in recent years.
"It's a huge issue," said Pereira.
He heads a foundation (Battlefields2Ballfields.org) that recruits officials from the ranks of military veterans because, "They've got thicker skin," he maintains.
While recruitment for pro and college officials hasn't waned, Pereira said, exit surveys of those who walked away from officiating at the lower levels cite verbal abuse as a primary turn-off.
"And it's not so much coming from coaches and players," Pereira said. "It's the abuse from parents."
Perhaps this apparently new NFL standard when it comes to verbal abuse on officials will have a trickle-down effect.
Then there was the time the NFL disciplined Hall of Fame credentialed coach Mike Holmgren for crossing another line when it came to complaining about officiating. Holmgren, then the Seahawks coach during the early 2000s, went public in revealing communication from the league that admitted officials had missed nine calls during a particular game.
It was a violation of confidentiality that led to discipline that included a ban on Holmgren from having contact with the officiating department for four weeks.
Of course, after receiving his letter detailing this, Holmgren picked up the phone and called Pereira, as the former officiating chief recalls it.
"So, I can't talk to you for four weeks?" Pereira remembers Holmgren saying. "And that's punishment?"
Or so it was intended. It remains to be seen whether the message to current NFL coaches will serve the purpose of trying to change behavior.
Follow Bell on X: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NFL sends needed message with big fines for coaches who berate officials | Opinion