In another embarrassing development for the NFL and its replacement referees, the Lingerie Football League has said it previously fired an official the league is using for incompetence.
Mitch Mortaza, the commissioner of the Lingerie Football League, spoke to Yahoo! Sports about the bad call on Monday Night Football and detailed how a referee being used by the NFL was dismissed for poor performance.
"It was a bit of a shock to see guys that couldn't officiate in our league were officiating in the NFL," Mortaza says.
He spoke about why he got rid of the official and also how the NFL is lowering its standard for officiating with the replacement referees.
"They were hurting our overall broadcast caliber," Mortaza says. "And if it's opening up our players for potential injury, those things raise red flags here. Is it hurting overall credibility? When either of those two things are compromised, it's time to start thinking about parting ways."
Ochoa worked NFL's marquee Hall of Fame game, but has not served in a regular-season game so far. He is with the NFL as an alternate.
Week 3 saw numerous incidents with the replacement officials, and Monday Night Football erupted into chaos after a blown final call on the touchdown that gave Seattle the win.
The NFL was forced to defend the call the next day, although many believe the officials got it wrong.
Trailing 12-7 with time for one last play, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson tossed a desperation pass to the back left corner of the end zone into a group of five Green Bay Packers and two receivers, including Golden Tate.
Tate shoved cornerback Sam Shields out of the way as Green Bay's M.D. Jennings went up for the ball and appeared to catch it, and then stuck his arm at the ball in desperation as the two came down in the end zone. The two wrestled on the ground before the referees, players and coaches converged in the end zone, waiting for a ruling.
The replacement referees called it a touchdown, claiming Tate had possession, but replays clearly showed that Jennings cradled the ball and all Tate had on it was one arm by the time he came down.
The LFL also put out a press release after the game on Monday.
"Because of the LFL's perception it is that much more critical for us to hire officiating crews that are competent, not only for the credibility of our game but to keep our athletes safer. Due to several on-field incompetent officiating we chose to part ways with with a couple crews which apparently are now officiating in the NFL. We have a lot of respect for our officials but we felt the officiating was not in line with our expectations. We have not made public comment to date because we felt it was not our place to do so. However in light of tonight's event, we felt it was only fair that NFL fans knew the truth as to who are officiating these games."
According to the NFL, Mortaza's accounts of dismissing the official were not true.
ProFootballTalk.com asked the league in August about Ochoa's background in the Lingerie Football League. "He said that is not true," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote in an email, referring to Ochoa. "He was not dismissed by that league."
According to the LA Times, former senior director of officiating for the NFL Mike Pereira also made comments about Ochoa's past experience.
"They've tried to say that Craig Ochoa ... was a BCS official, that he worked in the Big Ten," Pereira said. "He didn't work in the Big Ten. He's not been a major college official. I don't think the NFL is going to say that he actually got released midway through the last Lingerie Football League season as a referee. I don't think the league is going to put that out. The league wants as little out as possible. They don't want people talking about it. They don't want me talking about it."
Either way, the whole situation is another embarrassment for the NFL and its replacement officials, who have only gotten worse since week one rather than improving.
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